Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas claims he would not stop Hatem Ben Arfa from joining Marseille despite seeing his own club's bid for former OM player Franck Ribery rejected last season.

Ben Arfa has reportedly been looking to leave the seven-times French champions since spending the large part of the end of this season on the bench.

Transfers of highly-rated French youngsters between clubs in Ligue 1 are rare with many moving abroad instead of joining rival sides.

Last year Marseille refused a bid from Lyon for Ribery, preferring instead to sell him to German side Bayern Munich.

But Aulas insists he would not make the same "mistake".

"(Marseille president) Pape Diouf spoke to me about (Ben Arfa) last week," Aulas told French newspaper L'Equipe.

"I told him that we would not make the same mistake as Marseille made when we wanted Ribery, and if OM were capable of competing with other clubs (for his signature) then there would not be a problem."

The signing of Ben Arfa would follow on from that of Moroccan defender Amine Erbati, who joined the Mediterranean club from Raja Casablanca on Monday.

The 26-year-old joins Eric Geret's side on a three-year-deal pending a medical.