Report: Adrien Rabiot Close to Completing Juventus Transfer from PSG

Juventus have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Adrien Rabiot on a free transfer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires.

It was reported by Sky Sport Italia's Gianluca Di Marzio on Friday the France midfielder is close to finalising a move to the Turin giants.

"Juventus sporting director [Fabio Paratici] travelled to Paris to get the midfielder to sign his contract with Juventus after previously reaching an agreement on a Bosman deal with the Serie A champions," said the report. "Paratici [has] already returned to Italy—there’s a lot of optimism the last few details can be addressed quickly."

In the report, it's noted Juventus are also close to agreeing a deal that'd see them swap Leonardo Spinazzola with Roma left-back Luca Pellegrini.

With Maurizio Sarri arriving as Juventus boss this summer, there's set to be plenty of activity in the transfer window. In addition to the pending deals mentioned, Juventus have already landed Aaron Ramsey on a free transfer.

The Italian champions have completed a number of deals similar to this one in recent years:

According to Tancredi Palmeri of beIN Sports, only Cristiano Ronaldo will be paid more in Italian football once Rabiot's switch is finalised:

According to Romeo Agresti of Goal, Rabiot's mother and agent Veronique will earn a £9 million commission as part of the deal.

It'll now be intriguing to see where Rabiot fits in at Juventus. After all, in addition to Ramsey, Sarri will have Blaise Matuidi, Miralem Pjanic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Sami Khedira and Emre Can to call upon in this area of the field.

The 24-year-old will be hoping to put a turbulent spell in his career behind him too. The Frenchman has not played a competitive game since December, as he was excluded from the PSG squad after it was confirmed he would not be signing a new contract at the Parc des Princes.

As this clip shows, the PSG supporters were far from happy with the midfielder last term:

However, when he's fit, focused and in-form, he's an excellent footballer to have available. Primarily, Rabiot looks after the ball brilliantly in midfield areas:

His passing ability is just one of a number of gifts he possesses. Rabiot can also carry the ball forward from deep positions, glide past challenges and uses his physicality to win duels with opposition players.

It may be a while before Juventus fans get to see the best of Rabiot. Given he's been away from football for so long, there will undoubtedly be some rust for the midfielder to knock off over the summer; settling into a new club and a new culture away from the pitch is never straightforward either.

He will also have to earn a place in the starting XI along with fellow new acquisition Ramsey. The quality footballers available to Sarri in this area of the pitch will give the manager a big headache at the start of his tenure; a serious challenge may be what Rabiot requires to get back to his best, though.