Speaking before the start of the Premier League season, Erik ten Hag insisted he was not worried about Manchester United's apparent lack of progress in the transfer market.
"You don't need any player; you need the right player," he said. "That's what we're working for."
After that demoralising 2-1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, it seems attitudes have changed at United. Before the match had even finished, talk had surfaced of an offer for Bologna's Marko Arnautovic, Ten Hag having had to start without a striker due to Anthony Martial's injury and Cristiano Ronaldo's lack of fitness. A day later, widespread reports in England claimed the Red Devils are seriously interested in signing Adrien Rabiot, with Juventus prepared to discard the midfielder a year before his contract expires.
Suddenly, it looks like any diligent work United have done on long-term transfer targets has gone out of the window. To borrow from the Lionel Hutz real-estate phrasebook, "the right player" is now simply the player that's for sale.
Rabiot is scarcely an unknown quantity at this level: a player with more than 250 appearances in Ligue 1 and Serie A, six league titles to his name and 29 senior France caps. But Juventus don't want him, and few, if any, other top sides seem interested.
So, why are United trying to get him? What could he bring to Ten Hag's side? What are the risks involved? The Sporting News breaks things down.
Adrien Rabiot career: From PSG prodigy to Juve problems
City of Light's shining star
Rabiot was once billed as a golden boy of French football. Born in Saint-Maurice in southeast Paris, he had spells at a handful of youth football clubs and even spent a few months at Manchester City before joining Paris Saint-Germain on professional terms in 2012.
Carlo Ancelotti fast-tracked him into the senior set-up, handing Rabiot his Ligue 1 debut as a 17-year-old against Bordeaux in August 2012. Given what was to come, it's ironic that Ancelotti selected Rabiot for the game because he had dropped Jeremy Menez for ill-discipline and left out Marco Verratti for poor performances in training.
Rabiot soon established himself as a key component of the PSG midfield even as the manager merry-go-round got into full swing at Parc des Princes. He played 109 times in all competitions under Laurent Blanc, who replaced Ancelotti in 2013, winning three league titles and four domestic cups, but problems behind the scenes had begun to emerge — as had the shadow of his mother.
Mother, may I?
After Rabiot was dropped for a game by Blanc, the coach was reportedly confronted in the car park of the club's training ground by an irate figure. "You can't do that to him," Veronique Rabiot proclaimed. "I'm not going to consent to that." Within weeks, the player had been given a new contract.
Mrs Rabiot has operated as her son's agent since his youth football days and has often been criticised as an overbearing presence. In 2015, when the midfielder was dropped for the Coupe de France final after arriving late, she told Canal Supporters that she would be seeking a transfer for her son so he could have more playing time ahead of Euro 2016. In 2015-16, Rabiot played 42 times in all competitions but did not make the France squad for the tournament.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi had seen a future PSG captain in the young midfielder, a homegrown figurehead to lead a team of glitzy star signings, but the Rabiots were becoming disruptive. Although a regular player under Unai Emery in 2017-18, Rabiot and his mother refused to extend his contract, stoking tensions with the club's hierarchy again. When Didier Deschamps named Rabiot on the standby list for the 2018 World Cup, Rabiot told the coach he would not "be able to follow the training programme" and he watched from home as Les Bleus won the tournament.
Thomas Tuchel replaced Emery and convinced Rabiot not to seek a transfer, but barely two months later, the player was dropped for being late to team meetings. By January 2019, he was being forced to train with the reserves while his contract ran down. In March, after Manchester United somehow eliminated PSG from the Champions League round of 16 on away goals, Rabiot was seen partying at a nightclub after liking an Instagram post by Patrice Evra celebrating the result. He was suspended by the club; sporting director Antero Henrique described his "attitude and lack of professionalism" as "unacceptable".
By this point, Barcelona were weighing up an offer for the player, but — in an amusing twist given United's present predicament — they ended up signing Frenkie de Jong from Ajax instead. In July, eight months after his last PSG appearance, Rabiot signed for Juventus on a free transfer.
Turin Breaks
It seemed as though a move to Juve and Italy would help breathe new life into Rabiot's career, and there have certainly been successes: he has played 129 times for the Bianconeri, winning the Serie A title and Supercoppa Italiana in 2020 and the Coppa Italia last year.
Unfortunately, he's been part of a club in a state of flux. Massimiliano Allegri's highly successful five-year spell in charge ended as Rabiot arrived, and what followed was a volatile year under Maurizio Sarri in which the demands and methods of coach and board never married up. Andrea Pirlo then took over despite coaching experience amounting to about a week in charge of the youth team, and Coppa success could not make up for finishing fourth as Inter Milan ran away with the Scudetto. Rabiot himself claimed some of the players "didn't understand" Pirlo's plans.
Allegri returned last year, but there has been criticism of his pragmatic gameplan throughout the past 12 months, and Rabiot, despite playing 32 times in the league last term, failed to improve the mood. With Paul Pogba, Manuel Locatelli and Denis Zakaria all signed this summer and with just a year left on Rabiot's deal, Juve are now ready to sell.
Why does Ten Hag want to sign Rabiot?
Given the baggage that comes with Rabiot — the intransigence of his mother, his tendencies towards indiscipline and a feeling of unfulfilled promise — it seems strange Ten Hag would abandon long-term transfer planning just to add another body to his desperately light midfield.
But Rabiot remains an excellent footballer. He is strong, combative, but with an elegance in possession United simply don't have among their current central-midfield options. He is also versatile, having played as part of a deep-lying pivot, on the left of a central trio and even as an emergency left-wing-back for France, most recently in Euro 2020. His injury record is also commendable: 2018-19, when he was suspended for practically half the campaign, was the only one of the past nine seasons in which he played fewer than 21 league matches.
If Ten Hag can keep Rabiot fully engaged, the 27-year-old could prove an extremely useful upgrade on United's midfield options, regardless of whether they manage to get De Jong through the door.
Adrien Rabiot contract, fee and wages
According to The Manchester Evening News, United agreed an initial fee of £15m ($18m) with Juventus for Rabiot, which could rise to as much as £20m ($24m).
Personal terms must now be agreed with the player and his mother. He reportedly earns around €7m per year with Juve, which equates to roughly £113,000 ($137,000) per week, and United will likely need to offer an improvement to those terms.
Adrien Rabiot career stats, age, key details
- Height: 1.88m
- Age: 27
- Main Position: Central Midfield
- Nationality: French
- Youth Teams: Creteil, Alfortville, Manchester City, Pau, Pole Espoirs, Paris Saint-Germain
- Previous Clubs: Toulouse (loan), Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus
- Club Appearances: 369 (Paris Saint-Germain 227, Juventus 129, Toulouse 13)
- Club Goals: 31 (Paris Saint-Germain 24, Juventus 6, Toulouse 1)
- International Appearances: 29
- International Goals: 2
Adrien Rabiot's FIFA Ultimate Team card
Rabiot's stats on FIFA 22 are well-rounded for a midfielder, with dribbling a particular perk. He also has good numbers when it comes to stamina and both short and long passing.
Key FIFA Ultimate Team Card Stats
- Pace: 76
- Shooting: 74
- Passing: 76
- Dribbling: 80
- Defence: 76
- Physical: 79
What shirt number will Adrien Rabiot wear at Man United?
Rabiot wears the No.25 at Juventus, the same number he had for most of his time at PSG (he was briefly No.6, No.7, No.8. and No.31 at Parc des Princes). He wore the No.6 shirt at Toulouse during his loan spell.
United's No.25 is Jadon Sancho, so that number is off-limits at the moment. However, should Cristiano Ronaldo get his wish and leave Old Trafford, Sancho could take over the famous No.7 shirt, freeing up Rabiot's preferred option.
