Real Madrid have told Adrien Rabiot to join Leny Yoro at Man Utd as club president Florentino Perez ‘doesn’t want him’, according to reports.
Rabiot is a free agent after leaving Juventus and could finally be on the move to the Premier League after years of being linked with Man Utd, Arsenal and Tottenham, among others.
Unsurprisingly, the Red Devils are strongly linked with the French midfielder again. They reportedly came close to landing him for free last summer before he signed a one-year extension in Turin.
Rabiot started five of France’s six matches at Euro 2024, missing the quarter-final against Portugal.
The 29-year-old has 48 caps for his country but was not in Didier Deschamps’ squad when they won the World Cup in 2018.
He offers a wealth of experience having racked up exactly 500 senior appearances for France and his three clubs, Toulouse, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
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As a free agent, Rabiot will likely be demanding a huge salary and Man Utd are believed to be operating under a more strict transfer policy with Sir Jim Ratcliffe in charge of football operations.
Ratcliffe could be convinced to pay the experienced midfielder a big wage given there is no transfer fee involved.
After completing the signings of Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro for a combined £88million, Erik ten Hag’s side are now in sell-before-we-buy mode.
Scott McTominay and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are two of many players being linked with an exit this summer as Ratcliffe looks to raise funds to spend on new players.
Several reports have linked Man Utd with Rabiot since he left Juventus and it is now being claimed that he will be joining.
France star ‘goes to Man Utd’ after Real Madrid ‘rejection’
According to reports in Spain, after considering the signing of Rabiot, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has decided he ‘doesn’t want him’ with a transfer now ‘ruled out’ following his ‘rejection’.
This has opened the door for Ratcliffe, with the report claiming ‘he goes to Man Utd to play with Yoro’.
Having been considered by many to be the replacement for Toni Kroos, the Frenchman had caught the eye of Perez but it turns out that ‘the sporting management was never interested in signing him’.
Unconvinced by Rabiot’s credentials, Perez has essentially told the 29-year-old to ‘coincide with Yoro’ in Manchester after failing to sign the teenager from Lille.
Madrid had been in the race for Yoro but were holding out to sign him on a free transfer next year, with Man Utd moving effectively to get the centre-back this summer.
Indeed, Los Blancos believe Yoro is a ‘generational centre-back’ but the ‘economic proposal from Man Utd changed everything’.
The report adds that there is a strong chance the European champions do not bother signing a new midfielder to replace Kroos.
They currently have an abundance of talent in the middle of the park with Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde and Luka Modric among those in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.
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