French sports daily newspaper L’Equipe is reporting on Tuesday that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is eager to sign Lyon’s attacking midfielder Yoann Gourcuff who the 64-year-old Wenger sees as an alternative to the much more expensive Julian Draxler.
Wenger has been tracking the 27-year-old French international for some time now throughout his chequered career of high and low points from being a promising teenager at Rennes who was predicted for international stardom to being a flop at AC Milan.
Gourcuff returned to France where he resurrected his career at Bordeaux before moving to Lyon on a five-year contract in 2010 for 22€ million.
Arsenal first made enquiries into Gourcuff who David Ginola once called the best French player of his generation early in January at which time Olympique Lyonnais President Jean-Michel Aulas said that none of the teams player were for sale despite the financial problems the club are known to have.
Meanwhile Wenger and the Arsenal board will meet this week to discuss the Julian Draxler situation, and with time running out in the January transfer window may switch their attention to the seasoned Frenchmen who by the way can also be used as a second striker rather than avoid missing out on the young German for failure to reach an agreement in the time remaining.
Gourcuff has 31 caps for France and has scored 3 goals in 13 league appearances for Lyon this season.
Arsenal looks at Lyon midfielder as an alternative to Draxler
