The agent of Hatem Ben Arfa has said that the midfielder might quit football after being denied the chance to play for Nice.

The 27-year-old moved to the Ligue 1 club in January after leaving Newcastle United by mutual consent.

However, the French Football League has prevented him from playing for Nice, and Ben Arfa's advisor Jean-Jacques Bertrand has said that the player may now hang up his boots.

"He can't not play competitively for seven months. That's completely out of the question, unless he stops playing altogether," Bertrand told ESPN. "That's not out of the question for the moment, because he is quite distressed by what he considers to be persecution.

"Players can sometimes be a bit paranoid, people say, but he gets the feeling that people don't want to see him. In England, it's difficult. Here, he's done nothing wrong, and they don't want him to play. There comes a time when he has to ask himself the question."

Ben Arfa had a short spell on loan at Hull City earlier this season.