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Hatem Ben Arfa's lawyer, Jean-Jacques Bertrand, has told RMC Sport that his client has appealed to the French league's legal commission regarding a financial punishment levied in December by PSG when he missed a mid-season training camp in Doha, Qatar. Bertrand said Ben Arfa, 31, was fined more than €100,000, or two days' salary, and did not receive the value of an ethics bonus after gastroenteritis prevented him from attending the trip. All of this was done to push Ben Arfa, who has not appeared in a game for PSG since the Coupe de France quarterfinal in April 2017, out of the club during the transfer window, Bertrand said. "Hatem had provided evidence for his absence, with supporting documents to justify himself, but the club refused," Bertrand said. "There, he suffered a second penalty -- the two days of salary and an unfulfilled ethics bonus, which is fairly substantial. "It was 10 days before the winter transfer window opened and we were doing everything to get Hatem out of there. However, for these reasons, he decided to not quit the club." Bertrand said that Ben Arfa provided a medical certificate as proof he was unfit to travel, but Le Parisien reported that PSG required a document that demands a stop to work until one is fit to return. "This double sanction was absolutely applied to get him to leave," Bertrand told RMC. "However, it is against work rights to sanction somebody twice for the same mistake. "So, it was estimated that the proof regarding his absence was not enough and on top of that, PSG applied a second sanction, which was a fine in disguise." Ben Arfa, who recently jokingly celebrated one year without playing football, also wrote on Instagram last month that he will soon be leaving the club. A social media campaign designed to get Ben Arfa a minute of playing time so that he will be eligible for a Ligue 1 winner's medal has thus far been resisted by coach Unai Emery, who said on Tuesday that Ben Arfa must respect his decision not to select him.
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