Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez has said that Paris Saint Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot would be a great addition to his former side.
According to reports, Barcelona officials had met with Rabiot to agree on personal terms ahead of his proposed move to Camp Nou. The French Ligue 1 side is said to be prepared to allow the midfielder to leave for a fee in the region of €40million. And Xavi thinks the France international would make a shrewd signing but is wary of talking up prospective deals, having seeing Antoine Griezmann decide to stay at Atletico Madrid despite being linked with a switch to Camp Nou.
“He’s a player of an excellent level technically. He could play perfectly as a central midfielder at Barca. He could contribute a lot, but that’s already entering the realms of speculation,” said Xavi.
“I’ve been asked a lot about Griezmann this summer and, in the end, he stayed at Atletico. But if Rabiot comes, he’d be a great signing.”
The Catalans have already strengthened their midfield in the transfer window by bringing forward the arrival of Arthur from Gremio in a €39m deal.
Rabiot was born in Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, and played youth football for several teams, including two spells at Créteil-Lusitanos and a few months at Manchester City. On 2 July 2012, after excelling at the Camp des Loges, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
Rabiot was promoted to the senior team by manager Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the 2012–13 season. In the club’s pre-season he started in the penalty shootout defeat to Barcelona, and, on 26 August, played his first game in Ligue 1, a 0–0 home draw against Bordeaux. Rabiot made his UEFA Champions League debut on 6 November 2012, playing injury in a 4–0 group stage home win over Dinamo Zagreb.In January of the following year he was loaned to fellow league side Toulouse, scoring his first professional goal on 9 March 2013 which was the game’s only at Brest, from 25 yards.
Returned to PSG, Rabiot contributed with 46 games and six goals combined as the team won back-to-back domestic leagues from 2013 to 2015, but seemed to be on the verge of leaving the club as his mother Véronique acted as his main advisor during negotiations for a better contract. He started the 2015–16 campaign by getting sent off for two yellow cards after only 29 minutes, in the opening match against Lille (eventual away 1–0 win).
Rabiot scored his first goal in European competition on 25 November 2015 to open a 5–0 Champions League group win at Malmö, and repeated the feat the following 9 March in a 2–1 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, putting PSG into the quarter-finals 4–2 on aggregate. Four days later, he scored in a 9–0 routing at bottom team Troyes that sealed the league title with eight games remaining.
On 23 April 2016, Rabiot was sent off in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, a 2–1 win over Lille.
On 13 August 2013, aged just 18, Rabiot made his first appearance for the French under-21 team, starting in a 0–0 friendly draw with Germany in Freiburg He was on standby for the full side’s UEFA Euro 2016 squad but did not make the final cut.
Rabiot made his debut on 15 November 2016 against Ivory Coast, starting and being replaced by Thomas Lemar after 78 minutes of the 0–0 friendly home draw, due to a hamstring injury. On 17 May 2018, he was put on the reserve list by manager Didier Deschamps for the 2018 FIFA World Cup squad. However, he controversially refused to be put on the standby list, emailing the coach and saying he would not “be able to follow the training programme”. Noël Le Graët, president of the French Football Federation, commented: “He made a bad decision. He penalises himself and sanctions himself alone.”