Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is reportedly keen on the idea of the club signing Adrien Rabiot on a free transfer this summer.
The 23-year-old will become a free agent as his current contract with Paris Saint-Germain is set to expire at the end of the season.
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As noted by Marca last month, it had been suggested that a deal was in place for the French international to join Barcelona to bolster their midfield options, but that no longer seems to be the case.
With the Catalan giants agreeing a deal to sign Frenkie de Jong from Ajax for €75m+, as per BBC Sport, that has naturally led to the belief that they won’t try and sign Rabiot too.
In turn, Sport now report, via OK Diario, that Rabiot could be Zidane’s ‘secret signing’, with the PSG misfit considered a long-term replacement for stalwart Luka Modric, who will turn 34 in September.
Albeit at different stages of their respective careers, signing Rabiot would certainly make sense given he has the technical quality and class on the ball like Modric to add that key creativity in midfield.
It remains to be seen whether or not Los Blancos now put an offer on the table for Rabiot, as they are expected to rebuild the squad this summer after a bitterly disappointing campaign.
Having crashed out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey this month, Real Madrid are also 12 points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona.
With that in mind, they are set to end the season empty-handed, which will be a major disappointment given their success in recent years.
Zidane returning to the Bernabeu despite having only left at the end of last season was arguably the first piece to the puzzle to get them back on track, and he could now be given the backing of the hierarchy to rebuild the squad to make them competitive again next season.
Whether or not Rabiot fits into that plan remains to be seen, but based on the report above, it would seem as though Zidane and Real Madrid could now move in for the Frenchman with a move to Barcelona appearing more unlikely.
