Rabiot to Chelsea: What the Blues' next move will be

Robin Bairner

• 19 Nov 2022 10:00 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea are ready to turn to Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot to fill the potential void left by N’Golo Kante in the summer.

Kante’s contract is up in June, at which point he will become a free agent, and with no deal looking imminent for the defensive midfielder, who has missed much of this season injured, the Blues are liable to be scouring the world for potential replacements.

Fichajes reports that their eye has been caught by Rabiot, who is presently away on World Cup 2022 duty as a member of the France squad.

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The former PSG man was a target for Manchester United in the summer only for the move to break down because Veronique Rabiot, the player’s mother, who also acts as his agent, was deemed excessive in her demands.

Rabiot has since indicted that he was “lucky” the move fell through.

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Juve likely sellers, Chelsea unlikely buyers

The indications are that Juventus are ready to sell Rabiot, with Gazzetta dello Sport suggesting that the Bianconeri are ready to cash in to fund a move for Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Rabiot’s deal is also up in the summer, so January represents his club’s last chance to make money from a sale.

From Chelsea’s perspective, does a move make sense? Probably not.

Rabiot does not fit into owner Todd Boehly’s philosophy of buying promising young players to build a team around. He will have turned 28 before the season is out, while he has largely failed to fulfil the promise he had at PSG.

Although he has spoken about being an example in the France squad at the World Cup because he is one of their senior players, he has rarely shown the type of attitude expected of a leader. Is he really the type of personality who should be in a dressing room filled with less seasoned professionals?

Given his contract status and profile, it would be surprising if Chelsea did not take an interest in Rabiot, but it is unlikely to go further than that.