Everton’s interest in Adrien Rabiot is one of the worst kept secrets. The Merseyside club is aiming to reinforce their midfield and have shown curiosity to sign Juventus want away star Rabiot. However, Everton must refrain from taking any concrete steps to sign the Frenchman and instead focus on targets like Allan.
Ill-disciplined Adrien Rabiot
It is needless to say that Adrien Rabiot and Juventus do not understand each other. Last season he was deemed as a hit signing acquired by the Old Lady without paying a single penny to PSG. After less than 12 months, the story is has taken a twist. Rabiot is now regarded as an outcast and Juve are willing to discard him as early as possible.
Adrien Rabiot has been a mischievous and ill-disciplined right from his days at PSG. He had been fined numerous times for reporting late in the training. Not only at club level but even at International level, Rabiot has taken digs at Didier Deschamps from time to time.
When Deschamps announced the final 23 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Rabiot failed to make the cut and was instead placed in the standby list. The Frenchman refused to be on the standby list and felt insulted as he wasn’t included in the 23 man squad. Since the whole disaster, Rabiot has not even featured once for the Les Bleus.
At PSG, Rabiot entered the final year of his contract in 2018. The Ligue 1 giants offered him multiple renewal deals but all were turned down by the midfielder. Reports emerged that Barcelona were more than keen to take Rabiot away from PSG after his contract expired and this gave rise to a series of bad episodes with Les Parisiens.
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His mother called Rabiot a prisoner of PSG as the club was not allowing him to leave Parc des Princes and threatening him to not play him for the rest of the season. The midfielder too got involved in the mix of things and went AWOL, missing trainings and was later suspended by the club.
Rabiot arrived in Turin with the impression of being a bad boy who lacked desire and seriousness to succeed at the top level. Maurizio Sarri was not too impressed with the 23 year old and has only used him 20 times so far this campaign. Avoiding any such discipline related chapters with Rabiot in the future is a big gamble that Everton mustn’t take.
The complexity of the contract
Even if in theory, Adrien Rabiot is on his way to Everton, the deal is likely to cost Everton a fortune. Firstly, Juventus won’t be open to selling Rabiot for less than €40 million and considering the financial impact that Corona Virus has had on club finances, this is a huge sum.
The midfielder earns €120,000 a week in Italy and judging from past occurrences, Rabiot isn’t a huge fan of taking wage cuts. Everton will have to add another 7 million a year on their tight wage budget to accommodate Rabiot. In totality, the entire operation will cost upwards of €50 million which simply shouldn’t be a priority for the Toffees.
There is no doubt that Rabiot is technically sound but at the moment doesn’t have that mentality which a champion player needs. The Everton board must not be foolish enough to put such a big bet on Rabiot when players like Allan and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg are available.
What do you think Everton fans, is signing Rabiot a good idea?