Adrien Rabiot | signed for Marseille

Status
Not open for further replies.
Why is everyone so against Rabiot? I know his time at PSG was a bit troubled but you'd have to view it in the lens of that club being a circus in general. Did he have massive issues at Juve as well?
4 year deal for a 29 year old would just be repeating past mistakes. INEOS are right to avoid him.
 
What has his mother actually done that is any worse than what a normal agent does? I believe she was quite overbearing when he was a kid, but has there been anything notable in the last 6-7 years? My understanding is that PSG was utterly screwing him around in his last couple of years at that club and then she hasn't caused any drama at Juve (other than doing what any agent does and trying to get more money).
 
My understanding from a brief google search is that until this year, most foreign Serie A footballers only paid taxes on half of their salary. Think the tax rate there is 43%, so it is possible that Rabiot expects his next club to cover that shortfall (~€40K) along with a sign on fee.
 

Not sure what any of that has to do with his mother being a problem?

She had significant demands, but there's nothing saying it was more than any normal agent would have been asking. And Rabiot himself was 'allegedly' upset that the clubs own channel was criticising him during the talks. Which to be fair, if you've got the option between two clubs (staying at Juve or joining us) and one of those clubs official media is criticising you it's not exactly going to be a positive look to that player.
 
Not sure what any of that has to do with his mother being a problem?

She had significant demands, but there's nothing saying it was more than any normal agent would have been asking. And Rabiot himself was 'allegedly' upset that the clubs own channel was criticising him during the talks. Which to be fair, if you've got the option between two clubs (staying at Juve or joining us) and one of those clubs official media is criticising you it's not exactly going to be a positive look to that player.
Lou Macari is not official media, he's chippy owner with a platform.

They've always asked for way more than market rate. It's all about what they can get from the situation, not what they can offer. The only reason he joined Juventus was because they had massive tax breaks in Italy. He'll go to Saudi in the next couple of weeks and prove the point everyone is making.
 
If the wages are right signing Rabiot on a free is a no brainer.
The wages will never be right though, he is looking for his last big pay day. He’s a disruptive presence and not right profile of player we need in a squad that is developing.
 
We could use someone like him as an option for a couple of years, not more really.

His career management has mercenary written all over it so feck insane wages whatever the duration.

I'd entertain 1+1 with 150K base + pay-as-you-play and no more than that. If it's considered a joke then joke's on him, not us.

No big club knee-jerk provoking injuries over the weekend/international break and will end up in Saudi.
 
Is Rabiot's mother any different to Raiola or any of the other aggressive style of agents we hear about regularly? She seems to really irk a lot of people.

No, she's not. Only that she's a woman and he's his mother. Lot to unpack for some people.
I don't join in on any of this on either side, but I think the flip side of this could just as easily be said: agents have long since been criticised and their growing influence said to be a major negative in the modern game. And plenty get a lot of stick. Is Rabiot's agent any different than them?

Leading to the answer 'no, she's not'. Yet there seems to be a real need for some to highlight any criticism of Rabiot's agent and defend them, much more than other criticised agents. I assume that's as much because 'she's a woman', whereas the criticism of the male agents seems to be deemed much more fair game.
 
Last edited:
We are a little short on options in the no. 8 role with only mainoo and eriksen as realistic options. Not the worst option in the world to take a one year punt on him
 
Lou Macari is not official media, he's chippy owner with a platform.

They've always asked for way more than market rate. It's all about what they can get from the situation, not what they can offer. The only reason he joined Juventus was because they had massive tax breaks in Italy. He'll go to Saudi in the next couple of weeks and prove the point everyone is making.

During his whole tenure at PSG as a first team player he was paid below market rate. At Juventus he was in their top 10 best paid in their squad, because of no transfer fee.

Rabiot has never in his life been paid especially high wages. He had quite high demands when United tried to sign him, because he was evidently happy at Juventus.
 
The fact that no one has thought to snap him up as a free agent yet tells you all you need to know.

Glad we've steered clear, Murtough or Woodward would have been all over this, giving him £200k+ a week on a 4 year deal.
 
Why is everyone so against Rabiot? I know his time at PSG was a bit troubled but you'd have to view it in the lens of that club being a circus in general. Did he have massive issues at Juve as well?
We have Bruno, Casemiro and Eriksen already on big wages at 29 (soon to be 30), 32 and 32. We need to get younger in midfield not older. I’d much rather save the wages on rabiot and wait to make a move for Wharton or another midfielder of similar age and profile next season.
 
We have Bruno, Casemiro and Eriksen already on big wages at 29 (soon to be 30), 32 and 32. We need to get younger in midfield not older. I’d much rather save the wages on rabiot and wait to make a move for Wharton or another midfielder of similar age and profile next season.

I'm not saying "sign Rabiot". I'm just questioning why some posters are against the signing of Rabiot on the grounds of his attitude? He had a rough patch when he was a kid but he's been clean for the last half decade. He's also moved just 1 club in his entire career, so he's definitely not a journeyman footballer. If we don't want him, then it's for footballing reasons and not his attitude or professionalism or his mother. These aspects are being overblown.
 
We have Bruno, Casemiro and Eriksen already on big wages at 29 (soon to be 30), 32 and 32. We need to get younger in midfield not older. I’d much rather save the wages on rabiot and wait to make a move for Wharton or another midfielder of similar age and profile next season.
Ornstein said last week on Duncan Castles podcast (when he was a guest), that next summer Utd targets in midfield are Frankie De Jong and Ederson (Atalanta). The latter makes sense as a replacement for Casemiro and an alternative option to Ugarte.
 
The fact that no one has thought to snap him up as a free agent yet tells you all you need to know.
Not sure it does, really. Rabiot might be picky about the sort of clubs he'd ideally want to play for and this has been overall a somewhat subdued transfer window which I think took a lot of people by surprise. I'd be astonished he doesn't sign somewhere soon-ish (latest rumors is MAC) but I could be wrong. He probably wouldn't afford to wait a full year to sign like De Gea.

What's true is that this thread have kept carrying on despite little to no concrete reports we were interested.
 
Ornstein said last week on Duncan Castles podcast (when he was a guest), that next summer Utd targets in midfield are Frankie De Jong and Ederson (Atalanta). The latter makes sense as a replacement for Casemiro and an alternative option to Ugarte.

I swear to fudge that if we chase FDJ for another summer and sign him he better have the same final piece of the puzzle effect like Van Dijk was at Liverpool. Its almost becoming a big creepy at this point.
 
The fact that no one has thought to snap him up as a free agent yet tells you all you need to know.

Glad we've steered clear, Murtough or Woodward would have been all over this, giving him £200k+ a week on a 4 year deal.
I think it makes sense to a degree. A lot of teams are attempting to navigate around PSR. Given Rabiot can be “signed” after the deadline, teams are now in a position to know where they are financially and therefore make him an appropriate offer. I think it was always likely that all the movement involving transfer fees would happen first United, for example, shifted Sancho on the final days in the final hours. Our PSR headroom, and general wage budget allocation looks vastly different this morning than it did last night. We also have the option of moving on a player like Eriksen to other leagues, like the Belgian and Saudi leagues, for another week, and signing Rabiot. There will also be several teams who didn’t secure their first choice player and the deadline closed, potentially putting Rabiot in a pretty good position as one of the only truly high quality players still available to top clubs.

Just from a United perspective, when you are negotiating for your major midfield addition through to the last days of the window, you wouldn’t want your ability to close that deal to be impacted by a secondary free signing. All the reports indicate that we ideally needed to move on McT to sign Ugarte but that technically we could still sign him without doing so. If we had signed Rabiot on a free, and failed to move on McT, because that deal collapsed, we’d probably have been unable to get the Ugarte deal over the line. Now, I don’t know if United were ever actually interested in Rabiot, but from a financial perspective our dealings act as a perfect illustration as to why it’s not surprising he hasn’t been signed up yet.

I would very much expect him to sign somewhere on good wages, in the next week to ten days. Personally, I would very much be supportive of moving on Eriksen and replacing with him Rabiot, if we can get the latter on a 3+1 deal for reasonable wages. What I wouldn’t do is give him a 4 year deal on big wages, that’s just creating a problem down the line.
 
I swear to fudge that if we chase FDJ for another summer and sign him he better have the same final piece of the puzzle effect like Van Dijk was at Liverpool. Its almost becoming a big creepy at this point.
I know he's a good player but is there really no other DLP we can pursue :lol:
 
I know he's a good player but is there really no other DLP we can pursue :lol:

Its like beyond weird at this point. Like with Ineos having more a say in targets than EtH you would imagine that FDJ wouldnt still be seen as the be all and end all of midfielders and there are plenty of others they would consider.
 
In terms of contracts a player tend to take one of three routes. If he's a local lad whose playing for his youth dream team then he'll probably keep it simple by hiring a regional agent with great links to the club. That will ensure that he is treated fairly and will enforce the idea that its worth investing/be patient with the guy as he won't cause any troubles when negotiating contract extensions. Then there are those who take the agent route. Having a super agent has its many perks. He's got clout because of his nearly endless list of clients and he's well versed to deal under all sort of situations. I remember the late Mino Raiola discussing those situations during the year Pogba moved to United. He said that he spent as much time acting strong with United as he spent with his begging cap in hand. The guy was struggling to find a club willing to give Balotelli his 10th chance.

Finally there are those who think that they can do everything in house thus pocketing even the agent fees for themselves. From Wanda Nara (Icardi's agent) to Ms Rabiot right to Anelka (who was managed by his brother). That's usually when the trouble begins as these people often have no idea of how to manage a player and would come out with all sort of inconsistencies and weird demands. At best they might cost the player the chance of fully capitalize on their football career. Take Harry Kane as an example whose already at the wrong side of his career and has no trophies to show for it. At worse they end up ruining their career. However the drama is always close in such circumstances. Who can forget Nara going on live TV crying because she doesn't want Inter to get rid of Icardi?
 
We are a little short on options in the no. 8 role with only mainoo and eriksen as realistic options. Not the worst option in the world to take a one year punt on him
Casemiro can be a good backup for no.8. He has a very good pass in him and in his final years at Madrid was playing close to 8. I’m excited to see casemiro and Ugarte combo in midfield.
 
And a special request by his agent for a hot date with Ratcliffe or Ashworth.
People really need to get over the fact his mother is his agent.

This place turns into the 1970s every time Rabiot is mentioned.
 
It would be a panic signing but the club should offer him a contract, the midfield desperately needs another addition.
 
It would be a panic signing but the club should offer him a contract, the midfield desperately needs another addition.
Desperately needed indeed, whether it’s stemming from playing with Casemiro or it’s more than that, Mainoo is drowning a bit to start this season and I couldn’t think of anyone better to come in and relieve that pressure than someone like Rabiot.
 
It would be a panic signing but the club should offer him a contract, the midfield desperately needs another addition.

It would be a panic signing but we're in a panic situation. This should be sorted.
 
Sign him and ship Casemiro off to whatever window is open.
 
It doesn't make a difference, the midfield was exposed today when the distance between the players incrementally increased over time.

Remember when Evra / Rooney was speaking distinctly on Queiroz coaching the players with mats or something saying that they couldn't exceed the distance within the perimeter of the zone they were within, it was the same period the team won the UCL.

For three seasons in a row this talk of a heroic midfielder coming in is emerging, first season it was Frenkie De Jong, last season it was Amrabat before he was signed and this season it's 'insert surname'.

How about the hierarchy get a good coach who can communicate with the players about how to rotate movement around specific spaces.

United just lost to a team barely a week ago that featured Milner and Gilmour. If you gave Erik Ten Hag those two players they would be diabolical.

The midfield is a consequence of inept management and coaching.
 
Pointless if Ten Hag tells him to go and stand 10 yards ahead of Mainoo.
 
We clearly need a midfield option, and with the window closed there aren't many. It's a no brainer at this point, even if he's not played properly.
 
I've always preferred Rabiot in the 6 role. High quality and high volume passer. Great physicality. Intelligent positioning.

He'd be a smart signing but I definitely don't see us doing it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.