Barcelona Transfer News: €50M Adrien Rabiot Offer Rumoured

Barcelona are reportedly preparing a late offer to sign disgruntled Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot that's worth €50 million (£44.9 million).

That's the figure quoted by Mundo Deportivo (h/t Calciomercato.com), which said Barca are stepping up their efforts to land Rabiot this summer and not allow him to leave the Parc des Princes for free next summer.

The competition for Rabiot would likely be a lot more intense if he's available as a free agent in 2019, though the size of Barcelona's reported bid suggests they hope to move to the head of the queue and recruit him this year.

Summer arrivals Arthur Melo, from Gremio, and Arturo Vidal, from Bayern Munich, have given Ernesto Valverde extra options in central midfield, but it appears he's open to recruiting another alternative.

Ligue 1 reporter Jeremy Smith elaborated upon Rabiot's reported position earlier in August, and as far as exit routes go, the Camp Nou is about as pleasant a destination as they come:

The Blaugrana have begun their first season without Andres Iniesta in 16 years after he left to join Vissel Kobe in Japan, and Rabiot perhaps possesses some of the characteristics that made him so great.

Passing and positional awareness are perhaps common attributes, though Rabiot's young career has been somewhat marred by several contract disagreements that Iniesta never had. In 2014, Goal's Robin Bairner profiled the sometimes disruptive touch of his mother and agent Veronique.

It was then the France international entered the last year of a PSG contract for the first time, and he's since shown his attitude issues by refusing a place on the standby list for Didier Deschamps' 2018 FIFA World Cup squad.

Sportswriter Andrew Gibney joked about Rabiot's ongoing troubles in these matters:

PSG manager Thomas Tuchel recently said he hoped for Rabiot to remain in Paris, but he was unsure whether he'd still have the 23-year-old in his squad come September 1, per Sport: "I'm not sure whether he'll stay, it all depends on him. I want him to stay. He's a player with a lot of potential, who came through the academy here and is very important for me."

Barcelona have already spent big in the past year to acquire the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele, while the combined purchases of Arthur, 22, and Vidal, 31, show big investment in midfield.

Rabiot differs to those two players again and might offer a new dynamic to what's present in Catalonia, but it's doubtful where he'd fit in among Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and the others.