Goodison View: Everton could rue missing out on Rabiot
Juventus appear to have slammed the door shut on Adrien Rabiot’s chances of leaving the club in the summer, and that could be a blow for Everton.
The Blues have frequently been linked with a move to sign the French midfielder over the past few transfer windows, with the club also said to be eyeing a transfer this summer [Il Bianco Nero].
However, in talking about Manchester City’s interest in Rabiot, the midfielder’s agent confirmed to Italian newspaper Tuttosport that he wouldn’t be leaving Turin next summer, saying: “He will not leave Juventus.”
Everton currently sit just one point away from fourth place in the Premier League table, and are edging closer to securing European football ahead of next season.
Should they manage to do so, the Blues will need to improve their squad depth to cope with the additional fixture congestion, and midfield may be an area that Carlo Ancelotti could look to prioritise.
With that in mind, Rabiot might have been just the type of player the Toffees needed.
Though Rabiot isn’t a naturally creative midfielder, the France international isn’t a key pass creator, with stats gathered by WhoScored suggesting the 25-year old averages less (0.3) than James Rodriguez, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Andre Gomes and Allan.
However, defensively the Juventus man thrives, averaging more interceptions per game [1] than all of Everton’s midfielders except Fabian Delph [1.4], more tackles [2.1] than all except Allan [3.1] and more interceptions [1.3] than all except for Tom Davies [1.5].
Only Doucoure and Allan average more passes per game (42.6 and 46.6 respectively) than Rabiot [42], which suggests that the former Paris Saint-Germain is no stranger to setting the tempo for Juve.
All this is to say that with Everton keen to enhance their midfield options, with the long-term futures of players like Fabian Delph and JP Gbamin uncertain, Rabiot could have represented shrewd business if the Toffees had pulled the trigger.
However now it seems unlikely that he’ll leave the Bianconeri, although stranger things have happened in football.
In other Everton news, former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has sung the praises of Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant manager, Davide Ancelotti.