Manchester United’s efforts to sign Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot have reportedly stalled amid negotiations over his salary.
United have agreed an initial £15million fee, which could rise with add-ons, with Juve for the 27-year-old France international. The club are now in negotiations with Rabiot’s mother, Veronique, who acts as his agent, to sort out his personal terms.
While initial dealings with Juventus were straightforward, due to the Italian club’s eagerness to get a transfer fee for a player who is in the final year of his contract, personal terms are less easy to sort. Rabiot reportedly earns around €7m (£5.93m) per year with Juve, which equates to roughly £113,000 per week, but he has his eye on a pay rise in Manchester.
Rabiot was apparently reluctant to move to United because of their lack of Champions League football. But, having been won over by Erik ten Hag’s project, he now wants a financial reward for taking a step down from Europe’s top club competition.
Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Rabiot is demanding wages of over €10million (£8.46m) per season on a three-year contract. He also wants a guarantee over Champions League football factored into his agreement, after United finished last season in sixth place – 13 points adrift of qualifying for the Champions League.
If the reports in Italy are correct then Rabiot is asking for a wage of around £162,692 per week, which would equate to a pay rise of around £50,000 per week from his Juve deal. That would be his gross pay, however, with those who earn over £150,000 per year in the UK having to pay a tax rate of 45 per cent.
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Rabiot’s wage demands may appear steep, but it would put him comfortably in the middle of things at United, where Cristiano Ronaldo pulls in the Premier League ’s highest wage of £500,000. Below him, David de Gea (£375,000 per week), Jadon Sancho (£350,000), Anthony Martial (£250,000), Marcus Rashford (£200,000), Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane (£190,000) will all earn more than him.
Juventus are reportedly lining up a deal to sign Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Leandro Paredes as a replacement. Manager Max Allegri is keen to push ahead with a €20m (£16.9m) deal for Paredes after Paul Pogba picked up an injury in pre-season following his free transfer from United. Juve currently appear short in midfield, with Rabiot set to follow Aaron Ramsey out of the door in Turin.
If they complete the deal, United will be getting a good player for their money, according to Andrea Pirlo. “He is a complete player, I have rarely seen someone so strong both physically and technically,” he told Sky Sport Italia in 2020. “He doesn’t even know the potential for improvement he can have, and we work on the mental side of things to make him understand that he is a champion. He is improving game after game.”
