Opinion: Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and now Man Utd? Adrien Rabiot has yet to come close to convincing
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Updated 09/08/2022 at 13:59 GMT
Manchester United and the club's latest transfer target Adrien Rabiot are both in decline, failing to live up to expectations. A summer move for both of them is a sign that neither club nor player has anywhere else to go, and they are both running out of chances to show that they can eventually get back to where many think they belong, writes Vincent Bregevin of Eurosport France.
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He launched his career with a club that has 10 Ligue 1 titles, and then moved on to the most successful club in Italy.
Now he could join the team in England with the most Premier League trophies. After PSG and then Juventus, Adrien Rabot looks set to line-up for another big side, Manchester United. United are in a nadir right now, but the French midfielder’s career could have another remarkable notch.
At the very least, these clubs correspond with the expectations that have followed the career of a player who broke into professional football aged 17 at PSG.
However he has not necessarily convinced over the decade that followed. For club as well as country - for whom he has 29 caps - Rabiot has never totally followed through. A 27 he has not made good on his immense talent that took him from Paris to Turin, before a possible switch to Manchester.
He was supposed to be the ‘Gerrard of PSG’
Paris saw in him a symbol. They wanted to build a team capable of winning the Champions League by recruiting stars, and hoped that Rabiot would sit at the heart of the side, a player made by the club who established himself in the first team.
At the time, the example they cited was Steven Gerrard of Liverpool. It would not be easy, but he didn’t get off to a bad start. Picked out by Carlo Ancelotti, put into the first team by Laurent Blanc, he became a first-team regular under Unai Emery, progressing quickly and consistently.
But Rabiot gave the impression of someone who expected more of others than he did of himself. He complained a lot, with a contract extension in 2014/15 proving a bone of contention. He thought he should be playing more, and saw himself more as a dynamic talisman while his managers wanted him to play deeper and more conservatively. He was often at odds with the club, and when he left his club in 2019 after being excommunicated from the first team, he did so under a cloud.
An underwhelming time at Juventus
The Old Lady had for a long time specialised in attracting talented players at the end of their contracts, and believed they had a bargain in signing Rabiot aged 24 without spending a transfer fee. Three years later, Juventus have no inclination to keep him on. Rabiot had his chance, first under Maurizio Sarri, then Andrea Pirlo and finally Max Allegri. All gave him plenty of playing time. But even if Rabiot is not a purely attacking player, his statistics are far from compelling.
- 2019-20: 37 matches in all competitions – 1 goal, 1 assist
- 2020-21: 47 matches in all competitions – 5 goals, 3 assists
- 2021-22: 45 matches in all competitions – 0 goals, 2 assists
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Adrien Rabiot of France
Image credit: Getty Images
Juventus expected much more from a player who should have taken games by the scruff of the neck, making decisive contributions. As well as failing to offer enough in attack, a nonchalant attitude and sometimes aloof comportment attracted criticism and mockery.
Allegri tried last Autumn to rouse Rabiot, just as Blanc had at PSG, saying, “It’s useless to talk of his potential. He has to do it more, it’s simple. If I was Rabiot, I would be really angry with myself,” to the Turin press. That did nothing to shake the player. Rabiot still seemed incapable of raising his level to fulfil his potential.
Are Manchester United his only choice?
That Rabiot is interesting a club like Manchester United after his failure at PSG and then Juventus could surprise people, even if United had first tried to sign him when he left France. But since then, Rabiot has not shown anything serious to suggest he could be credible and competent midfielder that United desperately need.
He was not the first choice of those in charge at United. If Rabiot is back in the sights of United it is because the English club have drawn a blank in their chase for Frenkie de Jong, who new manager Erik ten Hag wanted at Old Trafford. The complexity of that so-far failed transfer could let the Frenchman now move to the Theatre of Dreams. Here he could try to finally do what he has failed to do elsewhere: convince.
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