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The new rule moving the deadline of the Premier League transfer window to the eve of the new season to prevent distractions for fledgling campaigns has—more or less—been met with a positive reception. However, with the rest of the continent taking more time to adopt similar policies, the threat of English clubs losing their own players and targets to their European rivals remains a concern.
The Italian Serie A, for one, has joined the Premier League in this initiative, setting their transfer deadline for Friday prior to the start of the fixture schedule the following day on August 18th. For last season’s champions, Juventus, this lends an urgency to their pursuit of PSG starlet and rumoured Liverpool target, Adrien Rabiot.
In fact, the Old Lady are said to be keen on getting the fax machine set up to sign the rangy midfielder before the 8pm local time deadline with Barcelona also mooted to be interested.
With his current contract set to expire next summer, the 23-year-old appears to be reaching the end of his time in the French capital and will be available to sign a pre-contract with a new club as early as January.
Les Parisiens boss, Thomas Tuchel recently expressed doubt that the PSG academy product would agree to an extension, “It’s not certain if Adrien stays at PSG. It all depends on him,” the German manager said.
Reds fans hopeful of snapping the talented central midfielder up on a free next summer will be hoping he is able to make through Friday without decamping to Turin, particularly since player himself has gone on record as being a Liverpool fan since his youth.
“I think I would like to experience something else [outside Ligue 1],” Rabiot was quoted as admitting this past April. “I would love to play in the Premier League, not necessarily one club in particular, even though I was very fond of Liverpool when I was young.”
PSG player Adrien Rabiot on Instagram last night. pic.twitter.com/GRj7m5g35A
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) April 5, 2018
There will still be a matter of weathering interest from a Barcelona who still have until an August 31st La Liga deadline to finalize transfers; however for a player of Rabiot’s talent, the wait could be well worth it.