Earlier today, French attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa announced in an emotional press conference his goodbyes after terminating a deal he had signed with Nice just two weeks ago or so.
He had the following to say:
“Today, it is finished with Nice. Maybe not definitively. I want to thank everyone at Nice: the fans, the coach, the players, the president. I was truly very nicely welcomed. I have to thank them. It is a regret that I cannot continue here. I have to accept certain decisions. Last night, I was dejected. Today, the teammates here brought my moral back up during training. I feel better. Yesterday, I was truly depressed. I was telling myself that it was finished for me. I had a bad moment, but things are better for me now. It is a decisions that I have to accept. I need to remain positive for the future. You have the feeling of wanting to throw the towel in, but you tell yourself that you need to continue to fight, that you have time ahead of you.”
“I am still in shock, I cannot answer with regards to questions about my future. I know that you want answers quickly, but I cannot tell you. Of course, I want to continue, I cannot stop after something like this. I am dejected, very sad, but I will not stop. I am even ready to go to the North Pole if it means I can play football. For me, the decision was to stay with Nice right until the end. I need to see other things. We have not yet thought about it. Maybe I need to go abroad. The aim is to be competing again. We shall see I don’t know yet. I have meetings today, we will see.”
“I have had an enormous amount of messages, and I want to thank you all. I received a lot of support in France and abroad. Thank you. I had a lot of messages last night, nearly 100. It was really nice. I am happy to be able the benefit from so much support. It is maybe not goodbye (to Nice).”
