Another top club seems to be dropping out of the race for Adrian Rabiot.
According to German publication Kicker, Bayern Munich has stopped its pursuit of the French midfielder due to his excessive wage demands.
Rabiot is available via a free transfer this summer after his Paris Saint-Germain contract is set to expire. The 23-year-old midfielder has been an explosive subject over the past few months after he was dropped from PSG first-team training amid strenuous contract negotiations, only reinstated after the club was forced by court order, but he still has not appeared in the matchday squad since early December.
Rabiot and his agent – his mother Veronique – have made scathing remarks about his current French club, but others have been wary to pursue him due to perceived character issues. Rabiot refused a call-up to the French national team squad for the World Cup because he didn’t want to be an alternate, and added fuel to the character fire when he reportedly turned down a transfer to Tottenham because he considered the London club to be beneath his level.
His wage demands must be overly excessive for a club of Bayern’s might to turn down a free transfer for financial reasons, although often times top free transfers come with costly agent fees – Juventus reportedly paid $16 million in agent fees and commissions to complete the free transfer of Emre Can last summer – and that could be another reason for Bayern’s distaste of pursuing the Frenchman.
Rabiot has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona this summer, with the Spanish giants looking to get younger in the midfield. Barcelona currently sees significant minutes from 30-year-old Sergio Busquets, 30-year-old Ivan Rakitic, 31-year-old Arturo Vidal, while 22-year-old Arthur has struggled to earn a consistent role in the middle of the field with inconsistent performances and 26-year-old Rafinha is recovering from an ACL tear.
