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Personally I think we MUST do what we can to get Gourcuff back, as he’s potentially integral to our squad and for the future. He is starting to really shine in France now and without a doubt on the international stage he is being noticed. If we aren’t careful, we will lose him, because he clearly feels he wasn’t appreciated at Milan based on the way him and his father speak about us.
I say he will be integral to us because undoubtedly he has the talent to play for us, which I don’t think was ever in doubt, but more importantly, he’s versatile and can perform numerous roles in our side. This will be beneficial as he will be able to fight for a place in the midfield immediately (and probably get a starting role). However, when the time comes and we need to look to replace Dinho (which is only probably a couple of years away), Gourcuff can naturally push forward if need be. That is of course if we’re still using the same (or similar) system. Point is, Gourcuff can play a huge role not just immediately, but in the long term at Milan.
He’s an ideal candidate in our current midfield if we’re looking at the role many see Janku performing at the moment, which would also be healthy competition for the spot. I spoke of needing a runner during the match against Roma, and while Gourcuff isn’t a powerful runner like Janku, his movement is superb, an element of his game we saw at Milan. It’s his off the ball running that would strike the balance we would require in midfield, as I can see him performing a similar role to Seedorf in the past, with Pirlo as the playmaker and one of Rino and Flamini as the ball winner. Essentially, we’d have two strong runners in midfield and a creative force essentially as our engine. Gourcuff’s aggressive style of play could be used to our advantage as we know he’ll fight for the ball too. As for the doubts as to whether he can perform this role, let’s not forget in his early days at Milan (when he was highly rated) he was playing on the left side of midfield.
With a better balanced midfield without the over-inflated egos we currently have, we would see a much stronger and fresher Milan next season. Essentially, our starting 11 would have a number of younger talents...
---------------------------Abbiati? (32)--------------------------
Zambro(32)------Nesta(33)----Silva? (25)----New LB (?)-
-------Rino(31)/Flamini(25)----Pirlo(30)---Gourcuff(22)---
-----------------------Kaka(27)---------------------Dinho(29)-
----------------------------------Pato(19)-------------------------
The next stage would be to remove the deadwood from our squad and bring in fresher talents. Leaving would include Maldini (not deadwood), Favalli (or Kaladze if we can expect the same performances he gave this season), Emerson, Sheva and possibly Pippo (won’t happen though).
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