C.R.E.A.M Get The Money, Hatem…

By: Magnusson | June 28th, 2008

If you’re anything like me, you want to know what’s holding up the Ben Arfa transfer and more importantly why a club so eager to get rid of a player wants HIM to agree to a deal with THEM. Lyon gave an ultimatum so succint on thursday that it intigued most people. It finally turns out it’s a matter of money (like it’s not always about dough). So apparently Lyon forgot a clause in HBA’s contract that allows him to receive 1.5 million euros from the transfer fee they might receive. Problem is that when they signed that, People over at Tola-Vologe may have anticipated an Essien,Diarra, Malouda-like pay off for the kid from clubs like Barcelona or Madrid. But obviously blinded or just sloppy, they forgot to include that sum in the deal with Marseille and agreed to sell Ben Arfa for 11 million (doesn’t the real price frighten you. Last saturday, there were talks of 17 million).

Now Jean-Michel Aulas and his people are backpedalling super fast and threatening in order to get the player scared and make him give up the 1.5 million. Problem is, Hatem Ben Arfa seems to be a pretty stubborn fellow and has categorically refused to sit on the jackpot. Let who would have refused that payout cast the first stone…

Olivier Blanc, Lyon’s communication director told RMC that if “HBA doesn’t try to be reasonable (read: “give up the money”), this deal is not interesting for Lyon and won’t go through.
Problem is, Hatem is already in Marseille and has been spotted in many spots shopping for furniture and enjoying the town since he doesn’t have the right to attend trainings at the Commanderie. Pape Diouf on the other end, seemed very calm about the whole situation and said that if Lyon wanted to go back on their word, “they [were] taking their desires for reality”.
This may still be a summer long affair after all!