Hatem Ben Arfa, a personality forever hard to grasp | OneFootball

Hatem Ben Arfa remains an enigma at 38, his disconcerting personality revisited in a new long read. According to L'Équipe, his stories at Lyon, Marseille and Paris often ended badly.

Peers have long hailed him as one of the greatest dribblers. He believed football should be played his way, beauty first, with little interest in alternative paths. Early mentor Alexandre Gontran says he resisted ordered, tactical models, staying wholly creative and placing style before stakes.

With rare exceptions, notably his outstanding 2015-2016 season at Nice under Claude Puel, Ben Arfa left clubs on strained terms and clashed with many coaches. First agent Frédéric Guerra recalls a wilful talent, hard to channel, prone to abrupt outbursts, capable of absurd acts then swift apologies, both endearing and exasperating.

Beyond the pitch, he enjoys chess and the Rubik's Cube, explores spirituality and has read Nietzsche, Socrates, Kant and Schopenhauer since adolescence. Sidney Govou describes him as curious about almost everything, yet not for everyone. Sylvain Idangar sees a wounded but fundamentally kind man, likened to a rose growing through concrete.

Now mostly discreet, he still catches people off guard. In November he turned up at a Pigalle bookshop for Bernard Morlino’s Maradona signing, surprising an author who had never met him, then politely asking for a signed copy. The new piece collects further vignettes from his singular path.

Source: L'Équipe