Signing free agent Adrien Rabiot is not necessarily the best move for Arsenal by Martin
A lot is being made of the availability of PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot and the fact that he will be a free agent in the summer, with a whole host of clubs interested in signing the undoubtedly classy player, including Arsenal.
But we should avoid falling into the trap of signing top class players on free transfers for no other reason than they are free.
For starters, if a player is available for free then the chances are his wages will be huge, and look at the massive salary we are already paying to Mesut Ozil, a salary that may be having an effect on the Arsenal transfer budget.
Secondly, Rabiot carries some significant baggage, this is a guy that refused to be a back up for the French World Cup team in 2018 because he reckoned he could not cope with the training methods. This is a guy that has his mum as his agent and that is never a good sign. This is a guy that has also had a horrendous fall out with PSG over his contract.
Do we really want to sign a player that would cripple our wage structure, allow his mum do dictate terms and who throws his dummy out of the pram when he does not get his own way?
Of course, some free transfers are beautiful, Sol Campbell anyone? but generally speaking, they are more trouble than they are worth and not always beneficial to the team.
No way must we ignore a player because he is available for free but at the same time neither should we jump all over a free transfer just because they are free either. If a player fits our profile, our strategy, and can play to our style then we should target that player regardless of whether he will come in for free or £30 Million, and that applies to Rabiot and any other so-called bargain opportunity.
Martin