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Arsenal make contact over availability of £23m midfielder – report

By mac14 on January 19, 2016

According to the Evening Standard, Arsenal have made contact with Paris Saint-Germain and asked to be kept informed of the availability of midfielder Adrien Rabiot this month.

Rabiot is a name most of you should be familiar with as he’s been linked with a move to the Emirates for quite some time with Arsene Wenger believed to be a huge fan of the midfielder.

The rumours started once again in the lead-up to the winter window and the Telegraph reported last week that the midfielder’s agent, who is also his mother, was in London holding talks with Arsene Wenger.

It appears we’ve stepped-up our interest further as the Standard are now claiming that the boss has contacted PSG to ask that we are given the opportunity to match any bid that comes in for Rabiot this month.

The newspaper says that Wenger is using his strong relationship with the Ligue 1 outfit and their owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi to his benefit and while PSG are believed to be reluctant to lose such a promising young player, the paper suggests they would cash-in for around £23m.

Rabiot has made no secret of his desire to leave the Parc des Prince in search of more regular first team football having started just nine league games this season and he’s recently fallen out with boss Laurent Blanc, so a move certainly seems to be on the cards.

We’ve only recently signed Mohamed Elneny but with Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta all set to leave the club when their contracts expire in June, we need further midfield reinforcements and Rabiot would be an excellent addition.

The 20-year-old is one of the most talented central midfielders in France and would provide strong competition for Elneny and Francis Coquelin when he eventually returns from his knee injury.

I don’t think Arsene will push for a transfer this month as we have no immediate need for another midfielder until the summer, but as the Evening Standard’s report suggests, we’ll keep informed of his situation and act accordingly if it looks like he’s going to leave PSG in January.