Manchester United are closing in on the signing of Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who looks set to divide opinion if he does make it to Old Trafford.
United have agreed an initial £15million fee 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. If he does join, Rabiot will become United’s fourth summer signing, after Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez.
But what sort of a player can Erik ten Hag expect for the 2022/23 season and beyond? Here Mirror Football takes a look through the varied viewpoints of his former teammates and managers and those of opinionated pundits.
‘Footballing giraffe’
Paolo Di Canio has never been one to mince his words, so it’s hardly surprising to hear him spouting big opinions in his role as a pundit for Italian TV. It’s safe to assume that the former West Ham striker is not a fan of Rabiot, who has spent the past three years playing regularly for Juventus.
According to Di Canio, Rabiot is a “footballing giraffe”. He added: “He is one that cannot be seen on the pitch. He is 1.91m and loses the challenges with players of 1.28m.”
Going on a different rant about the Frenchman while on Sky’s Calcio Club in January, Di Canio went in again. “Rabiot what is it? Tie the game? Also at PSG he has scored 20 goals in 250 games with a team that creates 20 goals per game,” he said.
“And he plays as an offensive midfielder, because he is one with technical qualities, elegant... he never shoots; he does not make a quick vertical assist on his teammate; he does not have to decide on crosses and does not fill the penalty area. You say, 'Are you talking about someone who can't play football?'”
‘Proper wardrobe’
It may sound like an insult – and would certainly be if it came out of the mouth of Di Canio – but Gianluigi Buffon was, in fact, paying Rabiot a compliment.
"Rabiot is incredible, very strong,” the legendary Juve goalkeeper told Corriere dello Sport in June 2019. “What I met is a champion, a fantastic mix: he has physical strength of [Paul] Pogba – he is a proper wardrobe. He has [Arturo] Vidal's personality in the game and potentially [Claudio] Marchisio's dynamism and ability to integrate "
‘A complete player’
Andrea Pirlo is a pretty good judge of midfielders, having been one of the very best during his career, and the Italian is a fan of Rabiot. “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.”
‘Reached new levels’
Didier Deschamps initially had a difficult relationship with Rabiot after the midfielder refused to go on the reserve list for France’s squad at the 2018 World Cup. But he was welcomed back into the international fold in 2020, leaving Rabiot “surprised” by the speed of the resolution and Deschamps was happy to have him back.
"I know where he plays... and that's why he's another player and he's confident, good for him," he said in November 2020. "Even if it went badly for a while, I never forgot him, because he is a quality player. Today he deserves to be here. He's reached new levels, he's more consistent in everything. He has always had this technique, but now he also has the volume and aggressiveness."
‘Doesn’t like defensive roles’
Unai Emery was Rabiot’s manager at Paris Saint-Germain for two years. Although the Spaniard appreciated his qualities, he also admitted that it was difficult to pin down his best role for the side. Rabiot returned just 24 goals and 14 assists in 227 appearances for PSG, despite preferring an attacking position.
“He’s a central midfielder, who is more comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder rather than a creative one,” Emery told author Marti Perarnau, via GFFN, in May 2018 after leaving PSG. “Even if he remains more of box-to-box, rather than a defensive midfielder. When you want to play with a defensive, creative and box-to-box-midfielders in fixed positions, Rabiot finds himself confronted to a problem.
“He has to run, run, run and not play in a fixed position statically. And even less so with his back turned on the action. Rabiot doesn’t really like playing as a defensive midfielder, he likes playing as a box-to-box [midfielder].”
‘Character isn’t a flaw’
Laurent Blanc managed PSG for three years during Rabiot’s earlier days at the club. Unlike Emery, he believes he’s best utilised further forward. “He’s a box-to-box midfielder,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport in July 2019 after Rabiot moved to Juventus.
“Rabiot has physical strength, which lets him go forward. He can easily project himself towards the opposing box, he has a powerful left foot and a great header. They need to know how to manage him, so he gets the opportunity to express himself in the hottest areas of the pitch, where matches are decided and where he never loses lucidity. He can only improve at Juve.”
There have often been barbs thrown at Rabiot over his personality, with fallouts coming often and the actions of his mother Veronique causing friction. But Blanc prefers a player with something to say, rather than the quiet type, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic among those to recognise it at PSG.
“Of course, precisely because he has character. Having character isn’t a flaw. Indeed, he has the quality of great players,” he added.
“I remember his argument with Ibra, who respected him. He called him ‘petit Rabiot’ because he recognised [Rabiot] had the traits of a great player. Adrien has temperament, but it’s necessary at big clubs. Perhaps his development has come a little late at 24, but his situation at PSG must be analysed properly.”
