Blending Sincerity with Mind Games

By: Inara | November 14th, 2008

Oh Jean-mimi. How you love to find new ways to make people hate you (outside of Lyon, that is).

This morning, in a rather long interview in which Jean-Michel Aulas touched upon various subjects such as Laurent Blanc, the title race, and Hatem Ben Arfa, he also spoke about his regrets at being unable to sign Yoann Gourcuff two years ago from Rennes.

Yoann Gourcuff with Alou Diarra, aka a Lyon reject.

For those of you who didn’t know, Lyon made a very concentrated effort at bringing Gourcuff to Lyon and almost had his signature on paper, but his father, Christian Gourcuff (also the manager of Lorient), advised him to sign with Milan instead – though having found himself benched and rarely allowed to play, Gourcuff junior later admitted that he should have chosen Lyon. So his recent renaissance is rather painful for OL, who are now forced to watch their rivals reap the benefits.

You know, when Yoann left Rennes, he was very close to coming to Lyon. I personally went to Rennes to see him and his father, but I wasn’t convincing enough. However, he remains one of those players that our recruiters have always wanted to sign. Laurent Blanc and Jean-Louis Triaud [Bordeaux's president] had more effective arguments since they were able to get him on loan [from Milan].

What Aulas goes on to say is far more interesting, however.

“But of course, he is still a player that interests Olympique Lyonnais, at whatever the price. He’s a very talented player who has a big future ahead of him. I don’t want to compete with Bordeaux [over Gourcuff], but any club would be interested….If the prices are acceptable, Bordeaux should offer a bid, it would be a very good deal for them. Moreover, I don’t know why Bordeaux wouldn’t exercise the purchase option given his contributions to their team. “

Ouch! What has gotta be pissing off the people at Bordeaux is that they know Lyon can easily pay the price Milan are demanding, which is rumored to be around the €20m mark. After all, they paid €18m for a useless Kader Keita – two million more for Gourcuff looks like a total steal. But for Bordeaux, whose most expensive purchase ever was the €9.1m they spent on acquiring Pauleta, €20m is a huge chunk of money that they will find it difficult to afford.

You have to chuckle at the purposeful timing of Aulas’s declarations since in two days, Yoann & Friends will be arriving at Lyon for one of the biggest matches of the season. Aulas is no stranger to mind games (last year, before Marseille were came to the Gerland, a rumor was “leaked” to the press that Aulas was pursuing Samir Nasri) and loves to use them as much as guys like Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson. And this Sunday’s game, already billed as Benzema vs. Gourcuff, pits together two of the most talented players in L1. The third, Ben Arfa, evens things out by being at Marseille.

But I don’t doubt that Aulas is being truthful in that he’d pay any amount of money to sign Gourcuff. If it had any chance of happening, he’d have his checkbook out in a flash. But Bordeaux fans can take a breather because I just don’t see this happening, as much as I’d like it to.

Probably the only time that Gourcuff and Jeremy Toulalan will ever play on the same team is for France. Which is too bad because those two would be kickass in midfield together.

First, he’s really a Milan player who is just hanging out at Bordeaux for the time being. Whether he chooses to return to Italy is up in the air, but he’s gotten the taste of a big club and may no longer consider Lyon good enough. Secondly, if he decides to remain in France, he might as well stay at Bordeaux, which has built itself into a competitive team that looks to become Champions League regulars (at least one can hope). More CL = more wealth for Bordeaux = more chances of emulating Lyon.

And thirdly, Lyon is simply packed in midfield. Juninho is playing like he’s got another two years left in him, Ederson, Jean II Makoun, and Miralem Pjanic just signed this past summer, Jeremy Toulalan and Fabio Santos aren’t going anywhere, and let’s not forget that Mathieu Bodmer can also play in that role despite his current defensive duties. The only player who looks likely to leave is Kim Kallstrom, who at times has been forced to sit in the stands because there was no room for him on the bench. Of course, Gourcuff is better than almost all of them, but moving the manpower around would be very complicated.

I’m afraid that the chance of having Gourcuff at Lyon has already passed. The ship has sailed. The door has shut. The paths have diverged, never to meet again. Etc. It makes me very sad, kind of like how I felt when Lyon failed to sign Franck Ribery. It’s like saying goodbye without ever having the chance to say hello.