Adrien Rabiot - you're not going to believe this but his Mum is his agent and a circus

We were close to signing him a summer or 2 ago I remember before it broke down due to disagreement with his agent-mother over his wages I believe.

Ugarte and Rabiot would go a long way in terms of depth in midfield

Rabiot is an upgrade on McTominay and present day Eriksen with Ugarte being like a more mobile Casemiro mold midfielder
 
Look if he's coming on a free to replace McTominay's minutes and then allow us to sell McTominay and fund another midfielder.

Seems like good business, not the biggest fan but he is better than McTominay.
 
pratyush_utd said:
He is an upgrade.
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He could be. I'd have liked to have signed him from PSG, but he hasn't impressed me hugely at Juventus and I'd rather we move on to other, younger targets at this point. He seems a squad option rather than a starter, for me we should be targeting starters, and let the squad options identify themselves once they're here.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
He could be. I'd have liked to have signed him from PSG, but he hasn't impressed me hugely at Juventus and I'd rather we move on to other, younger targets at this point. He seems a squad option rather than a starter, for me we should be targeting starters, and let the squad options identify themselves once they're here.
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Literally every good team builds a squad which includes players that they imagine won't start if everyone is fit. Doing it on a free transfer is a bonus.
 
I expect him to be a great addition if he joins us. Don't see why some people here are having meltdowns over his mom.
 
I thought Rabiot was heading to Liverpool, but if we could hijack his transfer, it would be a fantastic move. Rabiot is a superior player compared to McTominay, so signing him on a free transfer would be a significant coup for us. It seems INEOS are cooking.
 
Given all the parts of the squad that need rebuilding and a lack of depth/correct profile in our midfield, this would be a no brainer. Perfect cover/competition for Mainoo and would be a much better back up no6 to Ugarte than either McTominay or Casemiro.

Doesn’t do too much fancy but holds and moves the ball well, we desperately need solid options at the 8 with Eriksen’s legs gone and Mount’s natural position more of a 10.

People saying move on and bring in a younger more expensive CM while also bringing in Ugarte have to understand there’s only so much we can spend and only so much squad turnover to go through in a single window.
 
Eplel said:
I expect him to be a great addition if he joins us. Don't see why some people here are having meltdowns over his mom.
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She's been his agent, hasn't she? And reportedly quite difficult to deal with.

I've seen plenty of people have issues about dealing with other difficult agents over the years, and saying best to avoid such and such a person due to who their agent is.

Some seem to be a bit more eager to stick up for 'his mum' more than the other agents, but the issue from some posters seems to be about her role as his agent, not as is mum.

I'll be happy with the signing if it's one of two midfield additions. And the other is more of a younger, energetic, hard working midfielder who'll add bite to our midfield. Rabiot as an upgrade on the older CM's like Casemiro and Eriksen would be a fine addition.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
A few articles this week about ineos/Ashworth targeting younger players. So this one would be a bit of a surprise in that respect
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True, but from a pragmatic POV if you can improve both your squad and financial position by signing one player on a free while selling another then it probably works as an exception to the general rule.
 
sullydnl said:
True, but from a pragmatic POV if you can improve both your squad and financial position by signing one player on a free while selling another then it probably works as an exception to the general rule.
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Yeah, you can have a general tactic of the kind of player you'll mostly target, but you don't have to tie yourself to that 100% and ignore all other types.

We're generally going to ge targeting more younger, hungrier players. But doesn't mean we shouldn't make some experienced signings when it's deemed necessary / worthwhile.
 
Suddenly so many Liverpool fans are saying “Rabiot is a shit player, never wanted him “ :lol:
 
Bertie Wooster said:
She's been his agent, hasn't she? And reportedly quite difficult to deal with.
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An agent being difficult is not news. And the player hasn't caused any issues in the dressing room himself, people here are just being typical doom-mongers, because all they like to do is moan.

Didn't see any of them disparage the Yoro deal because of Mendes, who brought us Di Maria and Bebe among others.
 
The fact that we’re prioritising selling home grown talent to bring in journeymen on the free to balance the books is the sad offshoot of PSR. Obviously every team is faced with the same conundrum but there’s bound to come a time when a 100 mil + offer for Mainoo would be tempting cos it’s pure profit.
 
Hope he takes to the league ok and doesn't look like a rabiot caught in headlights
 
GBBQ said:
The fact that we’re prioritising selling home grown talent to bring in journeymen on the free to balance the books is the sad offshoot of PSR. Obviously every team is faced with the same conundrum but there’s bound to come a time when a 100 mil + offer for Mainoo would be tempting cos it’s pure profit.
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And buy a replacement for 70 million who is older and isnt as good? Not a chance we'd considering that.
 
Mickeza said:
Simons can be a loan with obligation. I think Sancho or Antony will leave too and if that happens Simons isn’t going to be playing where Mount is.
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Not too fond of him on the wing. He can play there but he's best used as an attacking mid.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Literally every good team builds a squad which includes players that they imagine won't start if everyone is fit. Doing it on a free transfer is a bonus.
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Fair. I think we need to be targeting players who will start in midfield, I don't see that in 29 yo Rabiot. As a squad option on a free, it's not the worst by any stretch but his likely wage plus his baggage doesn't appeal to me at all.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Look if he's coming on a free to replace McTominay's minutes and then allow us to sell McTominay and fund another midfielder.

Seems like good business, not the biggest fan but he is better than McTominay.
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My thoughts exactly. I think we could do with a technical midfielder that gets regular minutes. At the moment it's just Kobbie (still young and developing) and Eriksen (past it).

I think signing like Ugarte and Rabiot would be good options but from what I hear about Ugarte and what I know about Rabiot, I think our midfield may struggle controlling games at times. It could be solid and better than last season, but on paper it wouldn't inspire me.
 
Eplel said:
An agent being difficult is not news. And the player hasn't caused any issues in the dressing room himself, people here are just being typical doom-mongers, because all they like to do is moan.

Didn't see any of them disparage the Yoro deal because of Mendes, who brought us Di Maria and Bebe among others.
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You're right, people were happy enough with the ability of Yoro not to be put off by the agent. Though I did give a lengthier response than you quoted, mentioning that I've seen plenty of times where people have been wary on here about transfer links based on who the agent is.

I'm not sure about how Rabiot is in the dressing room. Though I've definitely seen articles over the years suggesting he's had issues. I can't remember where now, though just to quote a less than ideal source as Wikipedia, there's reference there to "Despite his talent and ability, however, he has come under criticism in the media over his behaviour off the pitch, and has also been accused in the media of lacking professionalism, as well as having a poor attitude and a difficult character, which has led him to have conflicts with several of his managers." That's certainly the kind of thing I've read alluded to elsewhere, but no idea of the accuracy of any of it of course.

As I said though, I'd be happy enough to see him come in as one of two CM additions, as an upgrade on the likes of Casemiro and Eriksen at their stages of their careers. But would prefer to see our main addition be a more energetic, ball winning DM.
 
GBBQ said:
The fact that we’re prioritising selling home grown talent to bring in journeymen on the free to balance the books is the sad offshoot of PSR. Obviously every team is faced with the same conundrum but there’s bound to come a time when a 100 mil + offer for Mainoo would be tempting cos it’s pure profit.
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What home grown talent we are selling?
 
FujiVice said:
And buy a replacement for 70 million who is older and isnt as good? Not a chance we'd considering that.
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No not that we’d downgrade, more so that if we ever have to balance the books, the amortisation of a fee paid over the course of the contract would always need to be taken into account. The same way it’s not financially viable to sell Antony right now. Mainoo would always be the he cash in option if things went south.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
Fair. I think we need to be targeting players who will start in midfield, I don't see that in 29 yo Rabiot. As a squad option on a free, it's not the worst by any stretch but his likely wage plus his baggage doesn't appeal to me at all.
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I see what you're saying. I'm working on the assumption that this signing would be made in addition to another midfielder to replace Casemiro. If this is our only midfield signing then I would be worried.
 
He's a good player and probably good rotation with Mainoo. That'll solve at least one big gap in the squad for cheap so I don't really mind it. Just the drama that he brings I'm a bit wary of.

If we pull off 3 signings now - Rabiot, Ugarte and one of De Ligt / Branthwaite we're basically close to complete in terms of squad building in just one summer. The only remaining positions are LB and RB (if AwB leaves). Open heart surgery complete.

State of the squad:

GK: Onana / Vitek
RB: Dalot / AWB
RCB: De Ligt / Yoro
LCB: Martinez / Maguire
LB: Shaw / Malacia?
DM: Ugarte / Casemiro
CM: Mainoo / Rabiot
#10: Bruno / Mount
LW: Rashford / Garnacho / Sancho
RW: Garnacho / Amad / Antony / Sancho
CF: Hojlund / Zirkzee

Players in red a bit problematic but we can easily survive with that.
 
Teja said:
He's a good player and probably good rotation with Mainoo. That'll solve at least one big gap in the squad for cheap so I don't really mind it. Just the drama that he brings I'm a bit wary of.

If we pull off 3 signings now - Rabiot, Ugarte and one of De Ligt / Branthwaite we're basically close to complete in terms of squad building in just one summer. The only remaining positions are LB and RB (if AwB leaves). Open heart surgery complete.

State of the squad:

GK: Onana / Vitek
RB: Dalot / AWB
RCB: De Ligt / Yoro
LCB: Martinez / Maguire
LB: Shaw / Malacia?
DM: Ugarte / Casemiro
CM: Mainoo / Rabiot
#10: Bruno / Mount
LW: Rashford / Garnacho / Sancho
RW: Garnacho / Amad / Antony / Sancho
CF: Hojlund / Zirkzee

Players in red a bit problematic but we can easily survive with that.
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I think that could be pretty close to what we will start the season with. Maybe 1 more cheap full back depending on sales.
 
Selling McTominay/Casemiro and bringing in Rabiot on a free plus Ugarte or Zubimendi would be great business
 
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