Lyon Delighted To Have Completed The Capture Of Yoann Gourcuff From Bordeaux

狄.龍

OL's new signing has drawn smiles from those involved at the Rhone Valley outfit...
By Robin Bairner
Aug 26, 2010 8:47:00 AM

The transfer of Yoann Gourcuff from Girondins de Bordeaux to Olympique Lyonnais has been completed, and les Gones’ backroom staff have announced their pleasure at having captured such a sought-after player.

OL have been chasing Gourcuff all summer and were able to introduce the playmaker to 15,000 supporters at Stade Gerland on Wednesday evening before holding a press conference to field questions on their newest acquisition.

“Around him, we will initiate and develop our product,” Jean-Michel Aulas told the assembled media. “This was done with heart and passion over what the fans demanded. Today, they are offered a sort of Christmas present.”

Aulas’ chief advisor Bernard Lacombe explained that contact was first made with the 24-year-old through Hugo Lloris when the France side were at the World Cup, but though negotiations with Bordeaux were long, he knew they were coming to a conclusion at the weekend.

“When I saw him on Sunday on the bench at the Parc des Princes [where Bordeaux played Paris Saint-Germain], I thought he would be with us in 48 or 72 hours,” Lacombe stated.

Asked how Gourcuff will play, general manager Claude Puel replied sarcastically: “We’ll put him in defence.

“He will simply play in his position,” the former Lille and Monaco boss continued in a more serious tone. “We know his qualities in midfield and his ability to deliver the set pieces.”

Gourcuff has signed for OL for a fee of €22 million, and Bordeaux could make a further €4.5m depending on Lyon’s selling price in the future.

Source: Goal.com

狄.龍

Les Gones new signing could be the man to take them to the next level, Goal.com's Robin Bairner believes...
By Robin Bairner
Aug 26, 2010 9:15:00 AM

It’s been a long time coming, but with a week remaining in the transfer window, Jean-Michel Aulas and Jean-Claude Dassier, presidents of Ligue 1 giants Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille respectively, finally found their chequebooks to acquire additional manpower for their sides.

While Marseille’s spending was fuelled by the loss of Mamadou Niang and the imminent departure of Hatem Ben Arfa and (possibly) Brandao, Lyon’s addition of Yoann Gourcuff was very much a bullish statement of intent.

A fee of €22 million has passed between les Gones and Gourcuff’s previous employers, Girondins de Bordeaux, who have simultaneously been elbowed from the ranks of France’s elite, having earlier this summer lost key forward Marouane Chamakh to Arsenal on a free transfer.

OL’s pursuit of playmaker was essentially a summer-long affair, and though their interest seemed to fade in the 24-year-old, a serious injury to Ederson proved the catalyst for Aulas and his team of recruiters to swiftly act.

Lyon’s disappointing start to the season would also have been a major factor, especially as Miralem Pjanic has failed to hit any kind of stride in August at all. Gourcuff’s arrival at Stade Gerland is therefore the final piece, Aulas hopes, in a title winning puzzle.

Already this term it’s been painfully obvious that the Rhone side were going to have issues breaking down stubborn defences. Home games against Monaco and Stade Brestois have yielded only one goal, and though that’s equated to four points, it’s hardly the dominant form that Lyon sides are used to.

Admittedly an Achilles injury has prevented star forward and record signing Lisandro Lopez to feature in any form to date, and when the Argentine returns OL should boast a far more fearsome offensive line, despite the good work done by Bafetimbi Gomis in the opening month of the campaign.

But Gourcuff will provide his side with another dimension from the midfield, even if his €22m fee does look rather steep in comparison to Mesut Oezil, who switched from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid for just €12m.

Worries have been correctly expressed over the playmaker’s recent form. As Bordeaux declined over the second half of last season, the Breton struggled to exert the kind of influence on games he had shown in an explosive first campaign with les Girondins, and his relative mediocrity continued through the World Cup and into the beginning of this term.

Even at 70 per cent of his potential, the former Stade Rennais and Milan player remains a force above many of his Ligue 1 peers, though does not represent a man who will regularly be the difference in key games and certainly not a player worth such a hefty fee. There is pressure on him to perform, but amongst friends such as Hugo Lloris and Jeremy Toulalan, who evidently had a role to play in the move, why should he not get back to his best?

Around 15,000 fans turned out at Stade Gerland on Wednesday to catch a first glimpse of Gourcuff in a Lyon shirt, highlighting the symbolic nature of this signing as a capture designed to propel OL back into the French throne after two years in exile.

Disorganised Marseille don’t look to be in any condition to mount a title challenge at this early juncture, despite the arrivals of Loic Remy and Andre-Pierre Gignac, while Bordeaux no longer have anything like the strength to match Le Championnat’s top two.

By signing Gourcuff, Lyon have thrust themselves firmly centre stage in France once again, and the title is theirs for the taking.

Goal.com

Hope he can lead Lyon to the top

駿仔

波爾多先有查馬克
後有哥古夫都走了.....

Schmeichel

佢都係留返係 法國!!

狄.龍

留係法國唔係一個問題GE...
當然...打大球會工會好D啦