Liverpool are in desperate need of reinforcements in the middle of the park, with many of their midfielders coming to the end of their contracts or entering the latter stages of their careers at Anfield.
Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner will be out of contract at the end of the season whilst Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara are both into their 30s and not playing as consistently for the team as in previous campaigns.
As a result, a rebuild of the presence in the heart of the Liverpool team will likely be a top priority for the powers at Anfield, with moves for Jude Bellingham and Enzo Fernandez reportedly in the works already.
Despite the desperate need for midfielders, it should be important to the club and manager that they identify the right players with the right attitude who can seamlessly fit into the squad and be the positive, hard-working influences needed for Liverpool to rise to the top and compete for multiple trophies again.
One player who has been recently been offered to the Merseyside outfit is Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot, with the Reds believed to have been in contact regularly with his agent over a potential deal.
However, a move might not be the wisest of ideas considering he has a history of being difficult.
Despite ranking in the top 20% of his positional peers over the top five European leagues in 2022 for non-penalty goals, dribbles completed, tackles and aerial duels won, Rabiot has a reputation for ruffling a few feathers over his career so far.
The most public spat in which the midfielder has been involved is one with Paris Saint-Germain’s former
sporting director Antero Henrique, who criticised Rabiot’s professionalism by calling his behaviour “unacceptable” after heading to a nightclub just hours after the club crashed out of the Champions League in 2019.
He raged:
“I find the attitude and lack of professionalism of a player like Adrien Rabiot towards the club, his team-mates and the supporters unacceptable.”
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi also criticised Rabiot for his “lack of respect” towards the club after the £148k-per-week midfielder went on to push for a move away from the club through the media.
The last thing that Klopp needs right now, on top of the upheaval of FSG potentially selling the club and sporting director Julian Ward resigning from his position, is investing in a player who has a poor reputation and has shown a questionable attitude.
With that in mind, signing Rabiot could be an absolute nightmare for the Reds, and his previous unprofessionalism is a problem that the German could do without, so it would instead be best for FSG to invest in the many other midfield options that Liverpool could attract.