In an exclusive interview given to OM's medias, the president reacted strongly to the communiqué put out by Lyon on Sunday indicating that "the transfer of Hatem Ben Arfa to OM could not be completed." "As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed" says Pape Diouf.

Pape, can we first look at the chain of events since Wednesday concerning the transfer of Hatem Ben Arfa?
First of all, you have to remember the first declarations that came out of Lyon, which tended to say that there was no problem between the two clubs. And, if there was a problem, it was between the player and OL. So, why this sudden turnaround? Why put out such a communiqué, in which they accuse us of a whole range of things that are unfounded. I think you just have to look at the situation and understand this change of position. First of all, there was a certain amount of unrest that manifested itself inside Lyon, which was led by certain of Jean-Michel Aulas’s collaborators who accused him of letting one of the crown jewels go. Secondly, he was accused of badly negotiating; and thirdly, a reproach that he made of himself, concerning the administrative mix up that did not take into consideration the clause in the players’ contract that gave the player 10% of the transfer fee. From that moment on, Jean-Michel Aulas was caught in a trap and di not know how to get out, other than by the reaction that he had yesterday (Saturday) of making rash declarations. As far as we are concerned, we have absolutely no problems with the player and we don’t think that we have any with Lyon as they have also declared this. I think that, in this case, there will be two sides : those who think that Aulas, through the power he is supposed to wield, can do whatever he wants even using lies, omission and intrigue. Then, there will be others who think there should be some equity on the sporting side.
We are appealing to the wisdom and good faith of the judiciary commission of the League, which is presided over by the lawyer Me. André Soulier, who will decide on the question. But, let me just tell you, I have spoken a few times to Me Soulier and with the League’s president, Frédéric Thiriez, and I think that the situation, as it is right now, didn’t seem to be to our disadvantage in their opinions.

In their communiqué, Lyon accuse OM of not being able to produce financial guarantees for concerning the transfer …
Knowing, as it is possible to know, Jean-Michel Aulas, if we hadn’t provided the financial guarantees, it would have been the first thing he mentioned when a problem turned up in the dossier. Looking past the extremely discourteous terms used against the club, suggesting that we were unable to finance such an operation, there is one man who can set the record straight; and that man is Frédéric Thiriez, president of the League. He knows just how OM assured the guarantees demanded by Lyon in this affair.

Will it be possible to find an understanding with Lyon or will everything have to be sorted out in front of the League?
I’ll be honest with you. To try and calm things down, to find a solution and to offer Ben Arfa the possibility of coming here in a calm environment rather than in a storm, I called Jean-Michel Aulas on Friday at about one in the morning. I made him the following proposition  : «Jean-Michel, we have to get out of this rut.» For this, I was ready to make an effort, that’s to say stump up at least half of the sum in question, a sum which is of one and a half million euros. I did this to try and sort out the mess we were in and help them out. He seemed delighted by this proposition and promised to give me his reply the next day, after having consulted the members of his board. The next day, rather than a call from Jean-Michel Aulas, we received a call from one of his henchmen. This call changed the situation completely; he made us some off the wall propositions. It was at this moment that I realised that Jean-Michel Aulas had decided to break the deal, a deal that he had already confirmed. Therefore, I was not surprised by his reaction on Saturday in the communiqué which was just a catalogue of omissions, of lies and fallacious interpretations.

Are you expecting Hatem Ben Arfa to be at training on Tuesday?
As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed and we have provided the League with all the documents necessary for this transfer to be confirmed. In his communiqué, Aulas said that we had not signed the mutation notice, that is true but it is not our fault. We asked them to put their stamp on the notice and they refused. Going even further, they will have a great deal of trouble proving that we did not respect completely every commitment that we took out, and that can be on whatever point they wish.

So OM are well within their rights concerning this transfer …
People know us well here at OM, they can, quite rightly, say that things can get a little turbulent here, but we know how to keep our commitments and we always have kept them. Whichever way you look at this dossier and with a minimum of objectivity, it is plain to see that we are within our rights. It is because of this that we hope to have this case sorted out as quickly as possible, in our sense.