Although Newcastle Utd officials told us last month that there was "no chance" of the French winger coming back to Tyneside and cut short his loan spell ... they had better have a rethink.
The Frenchman has played just nine games for the Tigers following his loan move from Newcastle United.
A deadline day loan move to Hull gave the 27-year-old the chance to prove Alan Pardew wrong, and he and Bruce were going to put the world to right.
Bruce hailed his transfer scoop of the year, and told the media he would get the best out of the player who had "gone off the rails".
But the wheels are no nearer getting back on track, and Hatem has buggered off to Paris!
Steve Bruce (talking to the BBC): “Sometimes transfers work out and sometimes they don’t.
“It’s fair to say with Ben Arfa that I can’t see there being a future.
“It’s a team and you’ve got to reform and come into the team.
“Unfortunately he wants to do things his way, which is fair enough, so unless he changes…
“I’ll treat him like any other player. There’s been no fall-out, he’s been omitted from the squad because when you’re up against it you need to show a bit of resilience. Unfortunately Hatem sees it differently.
“It’s a shame because we were excited to get him on deadline day but in three or four months it hasn’t happened.
“He’s not AWOL. He could be in Paris, I don’t know, but he’s not AWOL.”
If he does come back ... and that looks to be guaranteed ... Pardew will again try and off-load him out on loan.
But who will take him?