SPORTS NEWS.

Ben Arfa officially joined Marseille on 1 July 2008 for €11 million, with future incentives to be included later, after an agreement was reached between Marseille and Lyon in a meeting organized by the LFP.[20] As a result of the disagreement over the transfer, in December 2008, Ben Arfa told the local Lyon paper Le Progrès that his former team lacked class and was not a great team.[21] Ben Arfa was presented to the media and had his first training session with the club the same day.[22] He was given the number 20 shirt. On 16 July, Ben Arfa was involved in another training session bust-up, this time with stiker and France international Djibril Cissé.[23] Cissé later joined English club Sunderland on loan.

Ben Arfa made his league debut on the opening day of the season in a thrilling 4–4 draw with Rennes. He scored his first goal for the Marseilles in that match.[24] He continued in great form scoring 6 times in his first 11 matches. However, his reputation for controversy continued to haunt him when he was involved in another dispute, this time with the Cameroon international Modeste M'Bami following the club's UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool. The two had to be separated by Ronald Zubar.[25] Controversy arose again following Marseille's embarrassing 4–2 loss to Le Classique rivals Paris-Saint Germain. He drew the ire of manager Eric Gerets after his refusal to leave the bench to warm up. Ben Arfa later said he was injured much to the chagrin of Gerets, but later apologized for the incident to the media and Gerets himself.[26] Upon his return to the squad, Ben Arfa responded by scoring a goal and providing the assists on both the other goals in a 3–1 victory over Saint-Étienne.[27]

Ben Arfa switched to the number 10 shirt for the 2009–10 season and made his debut on the opening match day of the season in a 2–0 away victory over Grenoble appearing as a substitute in the 68th minute.[28] The following week, he earned his first start of the season against Lille and assisted the game-winning goal scored by Brandão.[29]
Ben Arfa celebrating the Coupe de la Ligue title in 2010 with Mamadou Niang.

Controversy surfaced again, however, when, on 8 October 2009, Ben Arfa was fined €10,000 by the club for missing a training session. Ben Arfa blamed the absence on airport delays as he was in Tunisia visiting family members during the international break.[30] A month later, on 18 November, he got into a heated argument with manager Didier Deschamps during a training session, for which Ben Arfa later apologized.[31][32] Under Deschamps in the first half of the season, Ben Arfa appeared in 15 of the club's 20 league matches and only played the full 90 minutes in two matches, a 2–1 defeat against Monaco and an 2–0 defeat to Auxerre.
Ben Arfa's play during the 2010 portion of the season saw the player earn praise from both Deschamps and sporting director José Anigo. On 10 January 2010, Ben Arfa scored his first goal of the season against amateur club Trélissac in the Coupe de France.[35] A month later, he was instrumental in Marseille's 5–1 thrashing of Valenciennes assisting on the opening goal scored by Lucho González.[36] Later that month, Ben Arfa scored a crucial away goal in the first leg of the club's UEFA Europa League tie against Danish club FC København. In the return leg in Marseille, Ben Arfa struck again scoring the opening goal in the 43rd minute. Marseille won the match 3–1 and the tie 6–2 on aggregate.[37] On 27 February, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 3–0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain.[38] Ben Arfa's successful play in the month of February was validated after being named the UNFP Player of the Month.[39] Marseille won all four of the league matches the team contested with Ben Arfa starting all of them. On 7 April, Ben Arfa converted a penalty in a 3–0 win over Sochaux.[40] The victory placed the club at the top of the table and they remained their for the rest of the season clinching the title on 5 May following a 3–1 win over Rennes. Ben Arfa appeared as a substitute in the match.