Barcelona close in on PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot
Thomas Tuchel has given the player the green light to leave the Parc des Princes and Barça have offered a five-year deal, according to Le Parisien.
PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot is on the verge of joining Barcelona, according to reports in France.
Le Parisien states that two keys elements of the proposed deal have come to pass: firstly, Barcelona have approached the 23-year-old and offered a five-year deal and secondly, Thomas Tuchel has given the player permission to talk to the Liga club.
Rabiot is out of contract in 2019 and PSG would prefer to cash in the on the midfielder now rather than allow him to leave on a free next year.
Rabiot has not had the easiest of summers after his refusal to be named among the stand-bys for Didier Deschamps’ France World Cup squad, which drew plenty of criticism in his native country, not least from the Les Bleus boss, who said Rabiot had made “a huge mistake.”
Barça keen to take advantage of Rabiot's bleus
He also made few friends in the PSG dressing room when he criticized his teammates for lacking a winning mentality after the Ligue 1 club’s defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League, noting it was “easy to stick eight past Dijon” but that his side were not competitive in the “big games.”
Barcelona have been keen on signing Rabiot for some time and see his recent controversies as providing the perfect opportunity to make their move.
PSG are now also ready to part company with the player and all the pieces are in place for a transfer to Camp Nou, with director of football Pep Segura and technical secretary Éric Abidal reportedly travelling to Paris this week to finalise the deal after the departure of Paulinho to China.