Manchester United failed to sign Adrien Rabiot three years ago after making a “very disrespectful” demand. That is according to Rabiot’s mother Véronique, who acts as his agent and was responsible for walking away from the negotiating table in 2022.
Back then, United had agreed an initial £15million fee to sign the France international from Juventus. But the transfer stalled and eventually collapsed amid reports that Rabiot’s wage demands were the issue.
Erik ten Hag wanted to clinch a deal for the central midfielder, but United’s lack of Champions League football was a sticking point. Rabiot was leaving Juve, who played in Europe’s best club competition, for United, who were gearing up for a campaign in the Europa League after finishing sixth the season before.
The then-27-year-old and Véronique were accused in the media of being greedy and blamed for the move collapsing. He ended up staying with Juve for another two years before joining Marseille last summer on a free transfer and Véronique has now pushed back against the narrative over the failed United move in an interview with L’Equipe.
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“That, too, is completely false,” she said of the allegations of greed over wage demands. “That year, Adrien was ready to leave Juve, who had qualified for the Champions League, for Manchester United, who hadn’t.
“We discussed the terms, and in the end, they said to me: ‘If we don’t qualify for the Champions League at the end of next season, Adrien’s salary will go down.’ I found that really over the top and very disrespectful.”
“I said, ‘We’re stopping’. They thought it was a strategy to get more [money]. But no, it was a matter of principle, not money. Obviously, it surprised them. They’re not used to it.”
Reports at the time said Rabiot was asking for a wage increase from €7m (£6m) per season to €10m (£8.6m). That would have put him squarely in the middle of United’s wage structure at the time, well below top-earners Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea and Jadon Sancho.
Véronique was slammed in September by French agent Bruno Satin after she oversaw Rabiot’s move to Marseille, instead of to Atletico Madrid. “It’s the result of the incompetence of the people who accompanied him there,” Satin told RMC Sport.
“He is advised by his mother and it shows that it is good to be accompanied by professionals because if he had been accompanied by a pro, he would be in a European top ten club and what’s more, he was free.
“The first thing is to get his opinion and find out what he wants to do. But it would be more interesting to ask him at the end of May because now [at the end of August], he has done the rounds of the market.
“To take a concrete example, I had the sporting director of Atletico Madrid at the end of July and he told me: ‘I had two conversations with the mother and I stopped immediately because she explained to me where her son should play’. It quickly tires all the professionals, it’s unbearable.”
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