Liverpool Offered Huge Opportunity to Sign One of France’s EURO 2024 Stars in Bargain Move
As the transfer window progresses, Liverpool are one of the few teams in the Premier League yet to make any concrete movements in the transfer market. There has been plenty of names linked with a switch to Anfield in the papers and on social media with the likes of Ederson, Joao Neves, Piero Hincapie, Riccardo Calafiori, Willian Pacho and Levi Colwill being some of the most prominent figures in that department.
However, over recent days there has been a new name being linked with a move to Merseyside with former Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot now reportedly being offered to the Reds. Graeme Bailey of HITC has claimed that Liverpool are one of the clubs to have been approached by the agents of Rabiot.
The 29-year-old is currently a free agent since the expiry of his Juventus contract at the end of June. With that being said, would it actually be a smart move for Liverpool?
Rabiot – Hit or Miss?
There’s no doubt that Rabiot is a talented footballer – you don’t rack up 48 senior appearances for France if you aren’t. You also don’t get linked to the likes of Liverpool, Bayern Munich, PSG and AC Milan unless you are a talented footballer. However, it’s not as simple as that.
The key behind all of these questions being raised about a potential move for Rabiot, is the tactical fit in Arne Slot’s system. As much as this is an opportunistic and cheap deal for Liverpool to get completed, the 29-year-old is far from what the Reds need in this transfer window and he certainly isn’t a priority.
A true ball-winning midfielder to partner Alexis Mac Allister should be the priority in that midfield department, rather than the box-to-box style of Rabiot. When looking at Liverpool’s current squad, Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch are probably the two options that are most similar to Rabiot – and I definitely know which players I would be wanting to put my time into.
There is of course the idea of this being a clever financial deal for the club as it’s not too often you get the chance to sign a player valued at around £30million, according to transfermarkt, on a free transfer – but that’s a very lazy way of thinking.
Liverpool’s Other Options
As mentioned briefly earlier, the likes of Atalanta’s Ederson and PSG’s Manuel Ugarte would make much more sense to Liverpool’s current plans. Both players being brilliant ball-winners and possessing a level of physicality that has been missing at Anfield since Fabinho’s departure at the end of the 2022/23 season.
Even Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners fixes more potential issues for Liverpool than Rabiot, despite the hefty £51million price tag placed on the Dutchman. Either way, I would rather us sign no midfielders than sign Rabiot on crazy wages and potentially hamper the process of our younger talents.
