The reasons Barca ruled out the signing of Adrien Rabiot
The PSG midfielder in theory was free but in practice was very expensive
Adrien Rabiot was close to signing for Barca next season but the demands of his mother and agent Veronique, as well as the signing of Frenkie de Jong, ended up killing the deal.
Paris United confirmed what was going on. Rabiot has had a battle with his club PSG over the past year since refusing to accept a contract renovation ahead of a summer exit for free.
PSG’s response was to sideline him even though the coach Thomas Tuchel wanted to use him still. The French side kept up their stance even though the player’s grandfather and father died.
Eventually they let him train with the first team again but he has not played a minute.
Barca were the club closest to signing him and conversations between Veronique and Eric Abidal were advanced. However their demands were too high. Rabiot wanted 10m a year net, and up to a 15m sign on fee - in lieu of the transfer fee Barca didn’t have to pay.
Plus Barca would owe PSG 10m euros as a compulsory fee for player development, as Rabiot was formed there.
So this free transfer would cost Barca 25m euros plus 20m in salary. If you add that to Rabiot’s ‘special’ character - not wanting to play as a pivot at PSG for example - and the hard work his mother is, it becomes clear why the deal is off.
Rabiot could now head to Turin, where Aaron Ramsey has already signed too, but his mother’s demands make the deal difficult for Juventus to reach. Tottenham is also an option.
