Rome (AFP)
A series of tenures, the impression of confidence and physical condition found then an exceptional goal against AC Milan: after a bumpy first Italian season, Adrien Rabiot begins to settle in the middle Juventus field.
The former Italian player's first Italian goal a week ago at San Siro was slow to come but it was worth the wait.
A duel won against Kessie, a small bridge over Theo Hernandez, a 40-meter head-high race to sow two other Milanese defenders and a left-wing strike in the skylight, there was technique, power and class, all the promises that have accompanied Rabiot's early career, without fully materializing.
But there were also the images of the few seconds that followed this dream goal. They showed Rabiot shouting his rage, running towards the sidelines and finally joined and buried by all his teammates, a sign that his integration is perhaps not going that bad.
Because as always with the former of Paris SG, the controversy lurks and it often takes on disproportionate proportions.
- striking -
The last episode occurred at the end of the confinement. While most of the foreign Juventus players have already returned to Turin to participate in optional individual training, the Frenchman indeed chooses to stay on the Côte d'Azur, where he works alone.
For the Italian daily La Stampa, the midfielder is in fact opposed to the cut in wages decided to protect the finances of the club and would therefore have gone "on strike".
The player then had ironic on social networks and criticized the media, attracting a slew of criticisms and the return of rumors of transfer window already sending him far from Turin, for example to Liverpool in the shirt of Everton.
There has never been a strike but the hypothesis of a departure was not born by chance either. Arrived in Turin with the image of a very nice transfer window - he signed free -, the French has indeed disappointed for months with colorless benefits.
His coach Maurizio Sarri defended him, recalling that he had spent six months without playing at PSG and that he had paid the price, first physical, then psychological.
Before the interruption of competitions in the face of the advance of the coronavirus, Rabiot had nevertheless started to increase very slightly in power, leaving behind the lining suit of Matuidi.
- White's tribute -
A horrible match against Lyon in the Champions League still showed that his status remained fragile and, when football resumed in Italy, the former Parisian left the bench for the two Italian Bianconeri Cup matches.
But since then, Rabiot has been established in every game. He did not systematically shine, but he gave the impression of a player to his business, the lighter races and the more asserted play choices, far from the long still silhouette and multiplying the passes without risk of the beginning of season.
And in the end, it was well integrated into the Turin rotation, playing almost as much as Matuidi and more than Ramsey, Khedira, Bernardeschi or Emre Can, party in the transfer window.
"Since the resumption, I see a Rabiot who looks a lot like the one I trained. He takes more initiatives, he is more at the heart of the game, but he can still do better," said Laurent Blanc last week. , interviewed by the Turin sports daily Tuttosport.
And for his former PSG coach, the best Rabiot is yet to come. "He has the qualities to become one of the best, an environment that scores five to ten goals a year. Adrien has probably not yet understood how strong he is."
© 2020 AFP