Juventus center midfielder Adrien Rabiot’s days in Turin are numbered amidst rumblings of attitude issues, but even before the recent drama unfolded, he seemed to be on the chopping block.
Last summer, Juventus made two free signings to upgrade their midfielder, bringing in former Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey and former PSG starter Adrien Rabiot. At the time, the moves seemed excellent, as Juve were, in their mind, getting two starting-quality players for the price of their wages alone.
One year later, however, Juventus are back to the drawing board, as neither signing has been ideal. But whereas Ramsey has at least shown goal-scoring quality and difference-making ability when healthy, Rabiot has been mediocre at best and has seemingly caused issues behind-the-scenes lately. Whether or not those are overblown is unclear, but the reality is that Juve could do a LOT better than Rabiot in midfield.
Therefore, Rabiot looks poised to leave Turin this summer and because of the economic situation in football due to COVID-19, the Bianconeri must find a suitable swap deal.
According to a report from L’Equipe, via Goal.com’s Robin Bairner, Juventus have shopped Rabiot to three big clubs: Manchester United, Barcelona, and Chelsea.
Juve have a major center midfield target at each of those clubs. Paul Pogba is available this summer and is the best transfer available at any position, with Juve reportedly in the lead for his services. At Barcelona, Juve have been working hard to secure Arthur Melo, even if a deal is unlikely. And Chelsea have Maurizio Sarri’s option of choice, Jorginho.
However, L’Equipe is also reporting that Arsenal have interest and the Everton project is Rabiot’s top choice. The issue with Everton is simple: they don’t have the impact players Juventus are looking for like Pogba or Jorginho. Their quality in midfield is such that their pieces are even worse than Rabiot.
The Bianconeri should be able to find a suitable partner for Rabiot, who will almost certainly leave Turin before the 2020-2021 starts. Now the question is, will Juventus get who they want in a part-exchange with Rabiot involved?