Lyon Approach Arsenal With Gourcuff for Gervinho Exchange Offer - Report

Lyon are still hopeful of convincing Arsenal to take a chance on Yoann Gourcuff as they look to secure the services of Gunners forward Gervinho in a player exchange deal, reports suggest.

The France international was once regarded as one of the brightest talents in European football but injuries and struggles for form have punctured his three year career at Lyon, which looks to be coming to an end after club president Jean-Michel Aulas recently conceded that the club will cut their losses on the man they paid €22m for in 2010.

Arsene Wenger is a self-confessed admirer of Gourcuff and has admitted in the past that he tried to sign the attacking midfielder before a long term injury disrupted such plans. A number of reports have suggested Wenger still holds interest in the 27-year-old, and may be tempted into a move this summer with Lyon now ready to listen to offers.

A number of reports in the French media, including from beIN Sport and France Football, suggest the Ligue 1 club will propose a swap deal with Arsenal that would see the out of favour Ivorian Gervinho move to the Stade de Gerland with Gourcuff heading to north London in the other direction on season long loan deals, with an option of a permanent deal next summer.

Gervinho, who was left out of the Arsenal squad for their tour of Asia, has been heavily linked with a move to Roma where he would be reunited with former Lille coach Rudi Garcia.

But Lyon are prepared to offer the 26-year-old a route back to French football, where he would certainly be gifted more first team opportunities than at the Emirates.

Meanwhile, the already marginalised Gourcuff is likely to play an increasingly peripheral role at the French club next season after Clement Grenier's decision to extend his contract at Lyon. In a bid to ease the financial load on their wage budget, the club are banking on Arsene Wenger's long term admiration of the Frenchman to help them resolve the issue.

Although swap deals are somewhat of a rarity in the transfer market, such a deal would draw comparisons to the one that saw Julio Baptista join the Gunners from Real Madrid in 2006 on a season long loan deal, with Antonio Reyes moving to the Bernabeu in the opposite direction.