Considered from a young age as one of the greatest promises in French football, Yoann Gourcuff took time to meet the expectations placed on him. Having left for AC Milan after his emergence at Stade Rennais, the native of Finistère only gave the full measure of his talent during his time at Bordeaux, with a title of champion of France and that of best player in Ligue 1.
“Bordeaux was a superb experience,he remembered for NewsOuest. Bordeaux was the club where I asserted myself. I play on a great team. It was very collective, the intelligence in the game. There were no stars, a very well-oiled team. » This great adventure in Girond would change Yoann Gourcuff's career and logically open the doors to the French team for him.
Having passed through all the youth selections, from U16 to Espoirs, Yoann Gourcuff was living a dream. “The French team represented the pride and accomplishment of a professional career,” he confided on this subject. And if his debut was idyllic, like his first selection crowned with a 25-meter goal against the Czech Republic, which only reinforced the comparisons with Zinedine Zidane.
Yoann Gourcuff, the immense waste
What followed was less happy and for some of his friends, the impression of waste was immense. This is particularly the feeling of Cyril Jeunechamp, his former teammate at Stade Rennais. “
For me, French football, because it did not seek to know the man better, missed out on a very great player “, he recently told Rennes Sport.
“Above the rest, I would put Yoann Gourcuff, a raw talent, who saw and did everything faster than everyone else, from the moment he arrived in the grouphe again confided about him, adding: “ When we know him, when he is confident, he is very far from the image that has been stuck to him. I was always angry when I heard what I heard about Yoann, who is a golden guy, and who was an incredible footballer. »
