Salin, who played for Rennes between 2011 and 2016, shared the story on France Bleu while reminiscing about his time in European competition.
The match in question was a 2012-13 Europa League group stage fixture at St James' Park between Newcastle United and Rennes — then coached by Frédéric Antonetti — with Rennes needing a win to advance.
Ben Arfa, then 25 and at the peak of his individual brilliance, had been dominant in the first half.
"We go to Newcastle with the ambition to win and advance. We play the first half, Ben Arfa is on the pitch and he makes our lives a misery — a real misery, incredible. He sets up Sylvain Marveaux and he scores. Then at the 35th minute, we see Ben Arfa requesting to come off."
What happened next became a Newcastle dressing-room legend.
"At the end of the match, I went to see Sylvain Marveaux to ask what had happened with Ben Arfa, whether he was injured.
"He told me: 'Romain, we don't know. We came in at half-time and he was already in his car. He just said: "They're useless" — talking about Rennes — "sort it out yourselves."'"
The aftermath, however, was not the comfortable second half Newcastle might have expected.
"When he came off, the team's balance was disrupted and we ended up managing to grab a draw."
The anecdote is entirely characteristic of Ben Arfa's career — a player of extraordinary natural ability, perhaps the most gifted of his generation in French football, whose relationship with structure, authority and consistency was always complicated. He played for Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille, Newcastle, Rennes and Paris Saint-Germain among others, producing moments of brilliance at each while rarely sustaining the form that his talent demanded.
He retired from professional football in 2022.