Arsenal: Adrien Rabiot a fire the Gunners have already played with

Adrien Rabio would bring a lot of baggage to Arsenal, but Unai Emery may be the one man equipped with the resources to sort it and stow it away.

Arsenal are still being tied to Adrien Rabiot, but then again, who isn’t. Last time I Googled “Adrien Rabiot,” these were the top search results:

1. Manchester United enter race to sign Adrien Rabiot
2. Adrien Rabiot more suited to Tottenham
3. Liverpool to hijack Adrien Rabiot
4. Adrien Rabiot to Arsenal

So yeah, there is a lot of jabber going on around his future, which is set to take a turn this summer when his contract runs out at PSG, forcing him to choose a new home for his talents. It was reported early on that Barcelona had won out, but since then, reports have conflicted and indicated that it might actually not be so done after all.

The thing with Adrien Rabiot is that he carries with him a certain history of being trouble. Goal did an excellent feature on the guy and his track record, which you’ll want to give a read, but there are two major themes in his trouble-making: His mother, who is also his agent, and his need to get away from PSG.

Needless to say, to sign Rabiot is to play with fire, because you’re bringing these two things along with him. And yet, coincidentally, these two lanes of “trouble” are no stranger to the Gunners.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just had  to get away from Borussia Dortmund and that has worked out just fine, hasn’t it? There were questions about his attitude, and a remarkably small number of clubs interested in him. But again, it worked out.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles had his problems off pitch with his mother as well, and that situation has also abated, though she didn’t double as his agent, so perhaps we’re comparing apples and pears.

Still, these are two lines of fire that the club has played with before. Thus, Adrien Rabiot doesn’t seem like as big of a risk as he might elsewhere.

And in terms of needing to get him into the mix consistently, that shouldn’t be that hard. He wants to play a more attacking role, which Arsenal has the unique opportunity to offer him. Unai Emery may not have enjoyed the idea at PSG, but things are different now and Emery is a smart man, he will know what works best.

The risk is we don’t give him what he wants and we, as a club, don’t reach the heights he feels he deserves as an individual. And that’s a big risk, to be fair. But the reward is that, if he does play with that amazing ability in a role that we so clearly need, and we provide the proper resources around him, then he can be a key player in helping us get to those exact heights.

To me, the same risk that was tied to Aubameyang’s “attitude problem” is also tied to Rabiot. So forgive me if that doesn’t deter me from wanting this to happen.