Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has been here before, naming high-profile transfer targets in the media in a faux-Real Madrid style. He declares his interest, unsettles, then tries to barter the price down on his targets. Aulas has previously tried this with Marouane Chamakh, Franck Ribery and Andre-Pierre Gignac among others, much to the fury of their respective clubs. But they've never come to anything - until now.
Make no mistake, Lyon's purchase of France international midfielder Yoann Gourcuff from rivals Bordeaux is a seismic shock for the domestic game in France. The €22 million deal smashes the record for the most expensive transaction between French clubs, set ten years ago by Shabani Nonda's transfer from Rennes to Monaco (for the equivalent of €20 million).
The scale of the event is not lost on Aulas. "My experience in 23 years of presidency leads me to think that this is the sort of thing you succeed in doing once in a lifetime as president," he told the club's official website, comparing the new arrival to 1999's signing of the legendary Sonny Anderson from Barcelona. Anderson's arrival for a then-record French fee (€18 million) was an epochal one for Lyon, arguably laying the foundation for their successes of the early 21st century.
After a torpid summer in the transfer market, the Gourcuff move - together with champions Marseille's dual signing of Ligue 1 hotshots Loic Remy and Gignac - is an enormous shot in the arm to the French game, which desperately needed to rekindle interest following the turn-off of the national team's lily-livered failure in South Africa.
Actually, it was France's World Cup crash and burn that paved the way for this deal to happen. Gourcuff had a miserable tournament, punctuated by rumours (subsequently denied) of midair fisticuffs with Ribery and capped by a harsh sending-off against the hosts. Had the 24-year-old produced his best at the World Cup, he would probably have had his pick of Europe's finest clubs. As it is, he was simply determined to have another crack at Champions League football.
Hard-won capture or not, the element of risk for Lyon should not be overlooked. Gourcuff was average by his own sparkling standards in the last campaign. He was not helped by a persistent groin injury, but he was unable to pull Bordeaux around as they went into freefall in the season's final weeks.
Aulas and manager Claude Puel have been desperate for a playmaker and Gourcuff has been their first choice all summer long, ahead of young Brazilians Neymar and Ganso. They have had to pay top whack to get their man, despite needing to save after a €70 million-plus splurge last summer to bring in the likes of Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos. The €6 million purchase of Jimmy Briand had been the extent of summer 2010's activity until now.
Last season's run to the semi-finals of the Champions League built some much-needed goodwill for Puel's hitherto-precarious position, but the thumping by Bayern Munich at that stage made clear that the flurry of investment had produced just a promising team with clear limitations. Financially backed again by the board, Puel is expected to produce after an unprecedented two-year trophy drought.
So where do Bordeaux go from here? Sales were always likely, ever since the disastrous closing to 2009-10 saw not only their title but also European involvement slip away. A yawning financial shortfall beckoned, with Gourcuff the most obvious moneybox filler. President Jean-Louis Triaud tried hard to resist Lyon's overtures but ultimately couldn't, despite his thinly-veiled loathing for Aulas.
It is hard on new coach Jean Tigana, who already had a hard act to follow post-Laurent Blanc. He is readjusting to management after three years out of the game, and has had to cope with budget cuts, rebuild shattered confidence after last season's implosion and deal with the departure of Marouane Chamakh.
More exits are possible. Fernando Cavenaghi has long been linked with a move to England and has just a year left on his contract, while midfielder Wendel is reportedly unimpressed at the €10,000-a-month pay rise he has been offered. Bordeaux are at a crossroads. Aiming merely for a Champions League place may seem a lowly desire for a deposed champion, but it's a fair bet Tigana and company would snatch greedily if offered such a prize now.
How Gourcuff's move might affect the competition is also worth considering. It's exciting, certainly, but it is unlikely to make Ligue 1 any more open. Lyon's total dominance of the first decade of the century (with seven successive titles from 2002 to 2008) spawned a raft of petrified, defensive teams fighting for scraps.
Their subsequent fall from their pedestal wasn't pretty, but created an attractive, more open championship, allowing entertainers like Lille to come to the fore. Now Ligue 1 has two real ogres - Marseille with their new €33 million strike force, and Lyon with a potential front four of Gourcuff, Lisandro, Bastos and Briand. Opposition defences will be packed once again.
Gourcuff's old boss will be hoping the move east will revitalise his star man. With questions hanging over Ribery and Karim Benzema, Blanc badly needs Gourcuff in form and firing for France. It will be fresh in the coach's mind how the midfielder took club and country by storm within weeks of returning to the Hexagon on loan from Milan in 2008, making himself indispensable to both.
It's fascinating to wonder how differently Gourcuff's World Cup - and his career - might have turned out had Milan not included an automatic purchase option in the loan deal with Bordeaux and he had returned to San Siro to replace Real Madrid-bound Kaka. His physical power and authority made him the perfect candidate to do so.
As it is, Gourcuff will be dusting off his Astroturf boots to make his debut for Les Gones at the Stade de la Moustoir against father Christian's Lorient on Saturday night. Here is where the road to greatness restarts - or so Lyon, Laurent Blanc and supporters of the French national team will hope.
