Rabiot's mum is an absurd character
The steps of the relationship between Adrien and Veronique, the mother/agent who's influencing his career
July 5th, 2019
In recent months we used to know the character of Wanda Nara as that of the most influential woman/sports agent on the Italian scene, much more than just the Mauro Icardi's wife, the one who actually has conditioned not only a great many sports bizzarre situations already happened in the past, but also a probable exclusion from the plans of Antonio Conte's Inter.
But Argentinian girl is not the only one: there is another figure that has been omnipresent for years in the football pitch and above all in the European transfer scenario, which will become extremely popular in Italy due to circumstances, an exuberant and superstitious woman who is second to none in as for requests for his own son, Veronique Rabiot. His son Adrien has just become a Juventus player, but the most important deal was to convince (with lot of millions) the mother of the French midfielder.
Trying to understand why the absurd requests that may come over the years is as difficult as recover the life of the former PSG. Raised in a 'good family' just outside Paris, Adrien has always been very attached to his family and in particular to his father, who introduced him to the world of football without ever being able to follow his son's progress due to serious health problems. In 2007 Michael Provost had an accident that caused him serious injuries that led him to total paralysis, after this misfortune he separated from his wife and out of necessity it was Veronique herself who always took care of her son's career (which took his surname), trying to keep him away from the difficult family situation. An attitude that from a protective point of view has soon shown itself to be obsessive, perhaps caused by the maternal fear of losing the child as it happened with her husband. Several times the behavior of Veronique, who in the meantime has become the son's agent, has clearly and decisively influenced Rabiot's career, making her one of the most feared agents of the clubs who, to ensure the performance of the talented son, are often arrived at the limit.
MANCHESTER CITY
In 2008 Adrien was discovered by Manchester City talent scouts, who immediately understood his mother's desire to remove him from the complex family situation and, as revealed in an interview with SoFoot, immediately took him to England. As one of the Citizens observers points out:
"He was a sensitive boy, very intelligent, he played on the wing and he was already tall for his age. But what made him stand out was the great mentality he had, he was polite and respectful, which is very unusual for a young Frenchman".
The talented Frenchman quickly showed off his athletic skills even in high school, impressing all his teammates, with whom he had also embarked on an English-language course funded by the company, which wanted to raise him in all respects in a six-year journey ahead of professionalism.
But after only six months, Rabiot and mother Veronique returned to France. If for some the reason was related to the excessive distance from the sick father, another version tells that it was the mother who took the child away from the English club, accused of not respecting the promises. At the time the contract did not guarantee the guy that he would become professional at the age of 17, because it was not a legal practice, and the mother was disappointed by this waiting for the club not to keep promises actually never given. And blocking, in fact, the development of his career across the Channel.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN - PART 1
Back in France, Adrien started to train in the Paris suburbs before joining Pau FC, where he remained until 2010 when he entered into the Paris Saint-Germain youth academy. "He was a talented kid, he always listened to me and was pleasant to train", recalled his coach of the time. But the Parisian leaders knew the story of England and the difficult nature of the mother well. After only a year of stay in Paris, to please mother and son, they organized a friendly match with Auxerre allowing the father to see the match from the sideline: Rabiot scored the two opening goals and was replaced at half-time to be able to watch the game with his father.
"He still has all his cognitive functions, he is the same person. When I told him that I was becoming a professional, I knew from his eyes that he was proud" says Rabiot, shortly after signing his first professional contract with the Paris club. It was the 2nd of July 2012 and Carlo Ancelotti opened the doors of professionalism to the young Adrien, but soon his career was slowed down again by his mother's behavior.
In November, Veronique was furious with the club that had allowed a media organization to profile his son without his permission. He also asked to be able to follow him in the mid-season tour in Doha and for the club to pay for the air transfer. The executives refused to compromise and, on Christmas Eve 2012, Veronique Rabiot wrote to the club's general manager that his son would not leave for the tournee, asking for him to be sold in the January market window.
After his return from the winter break, the leaders of the PSG replied to his mother's letter, initiating an infinite questions and answers that lasted a few months ago: "His choices do not do good for his son Adrien's career nor the good of our club that we remind you of being Adrien's employer".
Given the unjustified absence the club communicated a disciplinary sanction: in addition to not paying the salary for those days, the club decided that the youngster would no longer play with the Parisians, thus opening a loan option.
Rabiot then moved to Toulouse, bringing with him the requests of the mother-agent, who claimed to attend all the training sessions from the sideline. Veronique was satisfied but in the meantime continued his parallel battle with the Parisian club, accusing him of treating every player differently. Leonardo to stabilize the situation removed the disciplinary sanction and Adrien, after the first goal in Ligue 1, reopened to a return to Paris.
In the 2013/2014 season, back in the capital, exploiting the injuries of his teammates, with Laurent Blanc on the bench Adrien plays a good season totaling 34 appearances and also debuting in the Champions League. With just 19 years old.
AS ROMA
While on the pitch his son is getting more and more noticeable, his mother Veronique takes care of outside business, for example concerning his contract extension: his deal with Parisians expires at the end of 2014 and the economic demands made at PSG, as expected, they are not initially accepted by the Parisians.
Among the different teams to which the mother offers her son's services there is also the AS Rome of Rudi Garcia, but even in this case the mother's bulky attitude broke the negotiations that initially seemed to have been well started. It was said that when an agreement was found between the clubs, AS Roma's executives contacted Veronique to close the deal but she, on vacation, was not traceable and for this reason the deal failed. Another version, because when there are absurd stories, the versions are often multiple, was given by the then sports director Walter Sabatini. Which in an interview with Sky Sport recalls:
"We had a lunch date. We talked and told him that I already had an agreement with the club. Before getting up, she added something that nobody has translated to me. But I understood: I ask for confirmation and I go on a rampage. He wanted to talk to Garcia. I got mad and left. Never must these things ever happen. If you give your mother a face-to-face with the coach in a moment you will find her in the locker room".
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN - PARTE 2
With no possible transfer at the horizon, the mother's strategy to annoy the Parisian club then was to spread the word that the son would not renew, thus making the contract expire and threatening to find an agreement with a new club, for free. Adrien is initially put off the squad and cut from the Champions League list, but the club, proving to be equally very attached to the young player on whom maybe build around the team of the future, renews the contract. With anything but easy talks, given that Veronique, in addition to requesting crazy economic insurance, requested to be able to conclude the negotiation not with the managers but directly with the owner of the club, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
Even after the contract was extended, however, the requests of mother Veronique subsided, which even soon became increasingly frequent and invasive. The requests to the manager were not just about the role of the son on the field, who preferred to see him play in a more offensive position, even contradicting his real skills as a left-handed defensive playmaker, but also on the number of presences, given that Laurent Blanc often preferred him to players more experienced, even out of their position.
The mother soon became impatient and communicated to the club the will to take the child elsewhere, in a team that really puts the guy at the center of the project. After a few months from the renewal Adrien's career seems to be heading into the Premier League: proposed to several clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, the negotiations never end due to the excessive economic demands of his mother Veronique and Rabiot so remains in Paris.
NATIONAL TEAM
The first disagreement with the French Team dates back to 2016 when in Sofia, while France is facing Bulgaria for a World Cup qualifying match, Rabiot complains of having to enter to replace Kante because he could be injured for the cold. But nothing compared to what happens before the World Cup in Russia: Deschamps places the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder among France's reserves by cutting him off the list of the 23 (preferring Pogba, Kantè, Matuidi, Tolisso, Sissoko and Nzonzi) and he from that moment onwards refuses every convocation.
"If I have decided to withdraw from the list of reservations it is because I consider the choice of the recruiter in my regard does not respond to any sporting logic because for all these years the message was clear, it is the performances in the club that open the doors to the French national team. I am a competitor, but also a man and I would like to be considered as such (...) and finally I will assume all the consequences of my choice with the support of family and relatives".
The idea of not being able to give the father a World Cup in the role of protagonist has perhaps affected the choice of the disappointed Adrien, but the French Federation asks the player more clarifications after the summer. And, once again, was his mother Veronique to intrude: the president of the FFF Le Graet declared in fact to L'Equipe that, at the request of an interview with the player the mother answered, who wanted to present herself first at the appointment and then accompanying the child. "I told him it was out of the question, even in dreams. I wanted to tell him that he was too young to have this attitude towards the French national team. But it cannot be done and it is a sin".
JUVENTUS
Although the affair with the national team did not directly change the relationship with the club, in January 2019 Paris Saint-Germain also relegated him to the reserve team. After integrating him at the beginning of the season and having played regularly, the refusal of the contract renewal has definitely annoyed the Parisian executives that has not indulged for the umpteenth time the requests of the mother-agent, who asked for a 10 million contract per season for the son, in line with the salaries of top players like Mbappé, Neymar and Cavani. "My son is a hostage of the club, he will soon live in prison on bread and water" was the mother's comment, after relations with the Parisian club were definitively broken.
For months he was one step away from FC Barcelona, a destination failed apparently due to Lady Rabiot's requests to insert a special clause regarding the use of her son in the starting lineup, Adrien Rabiot sign fo Juventus, six months after the last game played in December 2018. He's only 24 years old, has over 200 professional appearances and 19 trophies won with Paris Saint-Germain.
Juventus has recently built part of its success on the solidity of the company and on the quality of the squad, and as regards the signing of Rabiot (the umpteenth free purchase for the Turin club) the management had to analyze not only the undoubted qualities of the young French talent, but also the weight of the cumbersome maternal figure. That, after being satisfied at an economic level by receiving something like 10 million euros at the moment of signing the contract (while the player will gain about 7 per season), in the first hours of his son's adventure she immediately became the protagonist of the 'usual' embarrassing behavior. When she was still on the private plane just landed in Turin, and after seeing a camera outside of the aircraft, he blocked everything for fear of 'feeding' his son to journalists and only came down after being she was reassured that those were resumed for the Juventus social media channels.
But that's not all, since during the selfie session with the fans and the arrival at J Medical she always followed his son in every movement, checking every single action: in the photos taken for the presentation he was assured for whom they were addressing directly to the sports director, Paratici: "Fabio for whom are these photos?"
If tactically Rabiot will certainly strengthen the black and white rose, what leaves many doubts about the arrival of the Frenchman in Turin is what will happen off the pitch: that Juventus accepts that the mother remains at the Continassa to follow the training does not seem plausible, so as we do not believe that Maurizio Sarri accepts advice on how to make a player play.