Arsenal Missing Adrien Rabiot Was Inevitable

Arsenal were linked to Adrien Rabiot for quite some time but it now appears that they will be missing out as the Frenchman secures a loan to Marseille.

In the midst of Arsenal’s blitz to find a defensive midfielder, a lot of names popped up on the radar. Some were young, some old, some expensive and some cheap. Naturally, Arsene Wenger found the cheapest one of the bunch when he landed Mohamed Elneny for just £7.4m. Nothing beats a bargain.

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However, since that deal has been made, it appears that all further midfield deals have been called off. Adrien Rabiot was there on a silver platter to be plucked by Arsenal. Now reports are surfacing that the wantaway French midfielder has notched a short term deal with Marseille. As such, the plan looks to be exactly what it always has been. Rabiot will go out on loan, return and grow into the PSG captaincy.

Funny, they told us this would happen all along.

Whatever the case, seeing as how all midfield transfer pursuits have stopped, it would appear that any potential move for Granit Xhaka has ceased as well. The Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder was given a fairly obvious green light to leave the club with a reported price to be in the £37m range.

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Xhaka is pegged for stardom and at just 22 years of age, his next move will likely be the vital move that provides his next step towards being something special.

Not pursuing any further midfielders puts Arsenal in a situation where the summer may get a bit hectic. Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky are all running to the end of their contract when the season is up and there have been no talks of extensions. As such, replacements will have to be made or Arsenal will be rolling with just four midfielders across their two base spots. That is, unless you count Jack Wilshere.

But you really can’t count Jack Wilshere.

Arsenal could begin preparations for this inevitable exit by moving for midfielders now, but Wenger is not the type to do such. Of course, the plan could also be to give rising prospects like Isaac Hayden and Jon Toral a shot at making it, which would be perfectly fine as well.

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Whatever the case, with Arsenal’s withdrawal from the midfield transfer market, there will be a lot of questions to be answered in regards to the future of this midfield in the months to come. It may be time to start grooming the changing of the guard for first team play by giving them spots on the active roster.