Newcastle United have been heavily linked with Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot but may not have been impressed with his display on Tuesday night.
In truth, Newcastle have been linked with every player under the sun since being taken over by PIF in October.
Newcastle did bring in five new signings in January, and if they stay in the Premier League, you can imagine there will be plenty more to come.
One summer target appears to be Rabiot, with Jeunes Footeux reporting just days ago that Newcastle have been quoted £22million for the Frenchman.
Rabiot was a hot prospect with Paris Saint-Germain but really hasn’t kicked on, becoming an infuriatingly inconsistent player.
Italian football expert James Horncastle even called Rabiot a ‘total enigma’ on Tuesday night after a tough night with Juventus.
Rabiot has been widely blamed for Villarreal scoring an equaliser against Juventus last night after Dusan Vlahovic had opened the scoring.
Rabiot completely failed to track the run of Dani Parejo, with the Spaniard swooping in to score, securing a 1-1 draw.
This momentary lapse in concentration is the kind of thing that has stopped Rabiot becoming a star at the highest level – and the Italian press have gone in hard.
Tuttomercatoweb called Rabiot’s performance a ‘disaster’ with his role in Parejo’s goal branded ‘unforgivable’.
They even suggested that Rabiot deserved to be sent off for a high challenge on Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze.
It was a dismal night for Rabiot, and you have to question whether he is really what Newcastle are looking for this summer.
Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett, Bruno Guimaraes and Chris Wood are all solid and dependable players.
Rabiot doesn’t really fit that mould and would represent a real gamble from Newcastle, with Tuesday’s display showing the worst of the midfielder.
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