Hatem Ben Arfa during his first training with the Girondins.

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Mehdi Fedouach / AFP

  • Hatem Ben Arfa participated this Thursday in his first training with the Girondins de Bordeaux.

  • His physical condition seems correct because in recent months, he has been able to train a lot between his confinement in Spain and his individualized summer sessions.

  • His goal is to be fully ready for October 17 and the trip to Marseille.

He is running.

He passes.

He shoots.

He even laughs sometimes.

All this in the midst of his new teammates.

Yes, yes, Hatem Ben Arfa is already participating in his first collective session with the Girondins de Bordeaux this Thursday morning just a few hours after signing his one-year contract with the club.

For a player who has not played since July 7 and participated in only five small games for a year and a half, it is rather surprising.

And it is true that the Bordeaux staff were "surprised" to find "a player in good shape with very correct physical tests and no extra pounds".

It must be said that in recent months, failing to play a lot, Hatem Ben Arfa has had time to train.

A lot of time.

The midfielder has just experienced a particularly complicated period as explained by one of his relatives at

20 Minutes:

“The confinement was very hard for him because Valladolid (Spain) prohibited him from returning to France.

He found himself completely locked up in the training center there for weeks.

But he continued to converse because he cannot go a single day without playing football.

We did that by video with a physical trainer.

"

Roche "has no worries" about his physical condition

So much so that he was much fitter than the rest of his teammates when La Liga resumed in June.

But, he did not do so in a row before leaving Spain with only three appearances.

Free then from any contract, he decided to continue to talk on his own while waiting to find a new club.

Physical work often done with a ball once or twice a day for an hour.

These training sessions were simply disrupted by the Covid-19 which he "caught in the course of the summer, he was completely asymptomatic and he just had a worse blow for two days" according to a friend of the attacker French.

🎥 Hatem Ben Arfa's first steps in training this morning pic.twitter.com/SXM5kttoua

- FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) October 8, 2020

Unlike Rennes where Sabri Lamouchi had taken several weeks to get him back on his feet, Hatem Ben Arfa is therefore arriving in Gironde in more than fair condition.

“It has nothing to do with it,” insists those around him.

He must now find the rhythm of the daily training and matches.

But the principal concerned assures him, he is doing "very well ... super good" when asked about his physical condition.

“I don't have too many concerns, admits Girondins sporting director Alain Roche, at his age (33) we know how to manage and his last match is not too old, I have no concerns!

"

He does not arrive in unknown land

Everything seems to be going well in the best of all possible worlds.

It remains to be seen how it will “match” with his new team.

No risk with Jean-Louis Gasset who wanted him at all costs and with his new teammates, Hatem Ben Arfa does not arrive in unknown territory since he has already rubbed shoulders with Benoît Costil and Jimmy Briand in the past, all three are from the same promotion of the INF Clairefontaine.

The one who does not know the city of Bordeaux at all has also attended Laurent Koscielny, his new captain, in the France team between 2010 and 2012.

Hatem Ben Arfa, the new striker of the Girondins de Bordeaux.

- Mehdi Fedouach / AFP

The objective, which he has set himself with his entourage, is now to be ready for October 17 and the trip to Marseille because Hatem Ben Arfa wants as quickly as possible "to restore the confidence that we give him" today. hui.

Before adding: “The human adventure and the athlete will come by themselves.

There is a good coach, a good president, a good sports director, good people here.

I am not often wrong when I have a positive a priori on people with energies.

The land will do things.

»And he seems already ready to push them back…

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Mercato Bordeaux: "He is in good shape", Hatem Ben Arfa arrives at the Girondins

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