French winger Hatem Ben Arfa has returned to his home country and will not appear again for English Premier League side Hull City, sports daily L'Equipe reported on Saturday.
L’Equipe said that the 27-year-old, who hails from the Paris suburbs, has been back in the French capital for the last three days, working with a fitness trainer while he searches for a new club.
Ben Arfa, who won the last of his 13 caps for France at Euro 2012, joined Hull on a season-long loan from Newcastle United in the summer, but has failed to make an impact in his eight Premier League appearances.
The report added that talks are underway to release Ben Arfa from his loan at Hull, who wishes to get his EU€250,000 (Dh1.1m) monthly salary off their wage bill.
That would enable the former Lyon and Marseille player to find a new club in the January transfer window, with L’Equipe claiming clubs in Germany, Spain and France were interested, along with two teams in Brazil.
Speaking after Hull’s 2-0 league defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, Hull manager Steve Bruce suggested that he had not yet given up hope on Ben Arfa.
“I don’t know if Hatem is in Paris. That’s the truth,” Bruce told reporters. “As for not playing again for Hull City, at the moment he’s not in the squad and the transfer window opens in January.
“There are still conversations to have with him. He hasn’t earned the right to be in the squad at the moment.”
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