Adrien Rabiot has been linked with Tottenham Hotspur on more than one occasion in the past few transfer windows. The links of course, seem as though they won’t die down till the media sees Rabiot don the white jersey of the London based side. Rabiot is a talented youngster who has the potential to become a wonderful midfielder in the future. At PSG right now, he is only a squad player. He has amassed 374 minutes in the league with 4 starts and 2 substitute appearances. For a 20-year old, that’s a far cry from “bad”, but he and his agent mother have thrown plenty of tantrums about the lack of game-time he has got at PSG.
Here are three reasons why Tottenham can and should sign Rabiot
Pochettino can work wonders with youngsters
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has shown he can do very well with young players. If last season, it was Ryan Mason, Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb, this time it is Eric Dier and Dele Alli. At Southampton as well, we saw the likes of Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers do well and early big money moves to big clubs. The 43-year-old manager has the reputation of investing in youth and nurturing it and he has lived up to it in recent years. One mustn’t forget he also worked with Philippe Coutinho at Espanyol.
Rabiot could hence choose to come in extremely capable hands. The fact that nine of the sixteen last players called up by Hodgson for England duty have been coached by Pochettino also adds to his case.
Offers something different besides adding quality in depth
In Rabiot, Spurs can get a player for the future, but one who could provide able depth and quality at the moment.
Rabiot is capable of playing anywhere in the midfield, from the holding role to a more box to box attacking role. He has usually been deployed in a deeper role for PSG and has proved his worth. But he works best sitting in the heart of the pitch and orchestrating play from the centre. He is not very imposing physically, but makes up for it with his vision to help his side. He can thread neat through balls and passes to his teammates and move the play forward.
At the moment, Spurs don’t have someone of the same exact mould within their ranks. He offers something different to the team, but can also be used as a backup if something were to happen to Dier or Alli and could be an upgrade on Demeble.
He can get more time under his belt at Spurs
There has been a case made that despite Blanc using the player regularly in the last few weeks, it has been done only against the lowest opponents. However, it can be argued that he played 73 minutes in the Champions League game against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
Still, one feels that Rabiot who has been so desperate to be involved more on the pitch can do so at Spurs more than PSG. Under Pochettino, age isn’t a factor as so many players have shown, most recently Dele Alli, the 19-year-old sure starter in the Spurs team. It’s hard to see him getting the game time he needs to fulfil his potential in the dark blue shirt. Whether that will happen right away at Spurs is also not a guarantee, there isn’t one at any football club, but considering all the factors, one can see him progressing faster at Tottenham than at Paris Saint Germain.
