Yoann Gourcuff named Ligue 1 Player of the Year

Yoann Gourcuff, who is on loan at Bordeaux from Milan, has been voted the Player of the Year in Ligue 1 by his fellow professionals and the outstanding playmaker has expressed his desire to remain at Bordeaux when his loan deal ends. The young midfielder has really blossomed under Laurent Blanc after struggling on the fringes at Milan and he is definitely the player who has to take most of the credit for the club’s uptrend in fortunes this season. Yoann Gourcuff, the son of current Lorient coach Christian, has beaten off competition from Michel Bastos (Lille), Stephane Sessegnon (PSG) and Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse) to win the coveted award. He has been in outstanding form throughout the season and has taken Les Girondins on the verge of winning the Ligue 1 title, and he definitely deserves the accolades.

Gourcuff has struggled to make an impact at Milan after making a transfer from Rennes, scoring just two goals during the two years in Italy but Laurent Blanc believed in him and decided to bring him to the club on loan deal before the start of the current season. The young midfielder fitted right in Blanc’s attack-minded team and he soon started showing plenty of potential. Team’s style of play really suited him and he imposed himself as the real team leader. Gourcuff played at a very high level throughout the season and he soon became member of the starting 11 in France national team. His excellent performances helped Bordeaux climb to the top of Ligue 1 standings and the odds are that they will win the league title as they only need one more point from the last match at Caen. These were all reasons why Gourcuff was voted to receive an award and I have no doubts that he completely deserved it.

The 22-year-old playmaker is yet to decide where his future lies, but it seems that he will be staying in France. Bordeaux has the option to make the deal permanent and I don’t think that they will have problems matching the asking price of 13.6 million euros. Gourcuff has already expressed his desire to stay as he is well suited to Bordeaux’s style of play and considering that he is the reason why Les Girondins will probably win the long-awaited title, I don’t see how they will let him go.

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