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Lyon president claims Yoann Gourcuff wants to take pay-cut to join Arsenal

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Rob Parker
 @ August 13th, 2013

Yoann Gourcuff wants to join Arsenal and is happy to take a pay-cut to make that happen, according to the president of his current club Lyon.

The 27-year-old was once dubbed the new Zidane, but a series of injuries mean his career has never hit the heights expected. His £80,000 have limited the options available to the former AC Milan man.

Rejecting talk of a loan move to a Ligue 1 rival, Jean-Michel Aulas told L’Equipe: “Can you see us paying part of his salary for him to play against us with another French club? We’ve never considered that and it would be even more stupid now than it was a fortnight ago.

“All that I know, if I understood correctly, is that he was ready to lower his salary to go to Arsenal, but that’s not the same thing. I spoke to his lawyer two weeks ago and he asked for the power of attorney to negotiate a transfer. I said no, but I would be keen to offer a non-exclusive power of attorney to see what happens.”

It would be strange for Gourcuff’s lawyer to be asking for the opportunity to open transfer negotiations and Arsenal being named without the Gunners being sounded out about their interest.

But it would be a substantial gamble given the France international’s injury record.

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