Former Everton target Rabiot may be up for sale in summer

One player who has been repeatedly linked with a move to Everton is likely to be up for sale in this coming summer transfer window.

French midfielder Adrien Rabiot is a name that has popped up constantly in the past few transfer windows as a supposed Everton target, with the Blue’s midfield was a source of constant headaches for successive managers.

The Toffees’ centre was often far too soft and lacked pace, energy and athleticism, especially once Idrissa Gueye left for PSG.

This transfer speculation first surfaced when Carlo Ancelotti was manager back in 2020 and the Juventus star was alledgedly a player that the Italian might consider bringing to Merseyside.

It seemed as though Juventus were happy to sell him and appeared to be shopping him around to other European clubs.

In the end that didn’t happen and Ancelotti instead signed Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure as he looked to strengthen the Blues’ engine room.

But stories about Rabiot didn’t die and his name came back in following transfer windows as the Toffees’ were linked with an almost endless number of players, including numerous midfielders.

He was also apparently close to moving to Manchester United last summer so perhaps the Old Trafford club will go back for him.

Everton’s midfield weakenesses has been a serious issue season after season and has contributed significantly to the relentless decline of the team.

Yet another attempt to resolve this was made last summer when Frank Lampard brought back Idrissa Gueye and signed young Belgian starlet Amadou Onana. He also added James Garner late in the window.

Onana has found it difficult to assert himself in a team that has been struggling itself to find any consistent form, particularly later in Lampard’s reign when his position and role seemed increasingly uncertain.

Gueye’s form too had declined significantly in recent weeks after a pretty solid start to life back on Merseyside earlier in the season.

As for Doucoure, his career at Goodison Park has been very much up and down with a good start under Ancelotti and postive spells such as for a while early on under his successor Rafa Benitez, to seemingly falling out of favour with Lampard just before he was sacked.

But, on Saturday Doucoure returned to the side under new manager Sean Dyche and produced arguably one of his best ever performances in a royal blue shirt.

Both his central midfield partners Onana and Gueye also found their best form together in the win against Arsenal.

Doucoure’s contract is up in the summer and it seemed likely that he would probably leave the club then. That would have surely been much more certain if Lampard had remained manager.

Now though with Dyche in the hotseat, if Doucoure can carry on playing this productively he could still have a future at Everton.

There are also potentially questions about Onana’s future longer-term even though he has publically reaffirmed his commitment to the Toffees’ cause.

Should he have a storming second half to the season though, it’s almost certain that other clubs will be interested in him once summer comes round.

Whatever happens with these players, it seems extremley unlikely that Rabiot will again be a name to be linked with a move to the Blues’ in the next transfer window.