Adrien Rabiot is still a PSG midfielder but that might change in six-months’ time. Arsenal and Roma were thought to be interested in the precocious 19-year-old with the later more likely to sign him up when the transfer window re-opens in January.
The youngster has only a year remaining on his contract and has made it absolutely clear that he doesn’t want to continue further with the French champions.
The Les Parisiens are keen to hold on to him, as he is not only a home-grown product but a prodigiously gifted talent who graduated from the club’s youth academy. PSG will try one last time to match his ambitions (offering him the wages he wants and the regular game time he seeks) but his unprofessional attitude of late could prompt Laurent Blanc to freeze him out completely from the first team picture.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi revealed in an interview with Le Parisien that the club had spoken with Roma and other clubs for a possible summer transfer but the deal wasn’t reached in time for Rabiot to pack his bags and leave before the end of the transfer window.
Many feel that Rabiot is a victim of bad advice from his close peers. His agent-mother, Veronique was seen complaining during the off-season about his son’s current situation at PSG and there is every chance that Rabiot’s desire to leave the club is actually down to his mother’s influence.
“He needs to play regularly in high-level matches,” she told Le Parisien in July. “Since February he has only started five times in the league and once in the Champions League.
“He cannot afford to spend a season on the bench. At his age, if you do not progress, you regress. His goal is to join the France team at Euro 2016,” further adding “If the supporters were parents, they would understand.”
And it is not the first time Rabiot has had problems with a top club. Back in 2008, Rabiot joined Manchester City’s youth academy on a six-year-contract. He would have turned into a Premier League regular by now but within first six months his contract was severed, with Veronique thought to have grown disillusioned with City’s treatment towards her boy.
The allegations about PSG not being able to involve more home grown players into the first team is true to a certain extent. Le Parisien journalist Gouaillard Frederick insists that Rabiot’s decision to leave PSG could partly down to the way the club handles their youth academy. With more and more foreign talents coming in to the club, PSG are struggling to promote home grown players into the first team.
Blanc wanted to groom the midfielder gradually, introducing him slowly to the first team like how Arsene Wenger has done with so many youngsters over the years. Last season, he managed 25 Ligue 1 starts, more than many of his senior team-mates in the squad. And his situation was only growing to improve this season, once he recovers from his foot injury.
At this moment, his relationship with the club has reached beyond repair. Considering his age, his manager and other coaching staff can forgive his recent behaviours, but he will hardly be accepted by the PSG fans anymore.
He will lose half of the precious season now which could end his dreams of making it to Euro 2016 for the France national team. Big things were expected of him at PSG but it seems his future at the French club is as good as over.
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