Man United target Adrien Rabiot close to signing for Olympique Marseille: Fabrizio Romano | OneFootball

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag decided to hand Christian Eriksen a rare start against Southampton and his team eventually picked up a 3-0 win on Saturday.

The Dutchman decided to take Casemiro off the firing line after he faced intense scrutiny following his display against Liverpool before the international break.

The Brazilian struggled big time last term and his poor form has continued and reports have linked him with an exit in January after the player turned down a move to Turkiye during the summer window.

This season is likely to be Eriksen’s final season as well which leaves Ten Hag with Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and the injury-prone Mason Mount as the only midfield options.

Midfielder hunt

The club have clearly not replaced Scott McTominay and Sofyan Amrabat adequately and hence, the Red Devils were being constantly linked with a move for free agent Adrien Rabiot.

The Frenchman came close to signing for the Old Trafford outfit in Ten Hag’s first season but for wage demands to ultimately lead to the move stalling.

And a similar fate befell the club’s current attempts as the former Juventus star’s wage demands proved to be too much for INEOS to handle.

And now, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has indicated that Ligue 1 outfit Olympique Marseille are in advanced talks with the midfielder’s entourage and a move is close to materialising.

Rabiot to OM

“Olympique Marseille are in advanced talks to sign Adrien Rabiot as new midfielder! Negotiations underway with Rabiot on contract terms.

“OM are optimistic to get it done in the next 48h — here we go, expected soon!,” the Italian wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

It is not clear whether the French club have agreed to pay the massive signing-on fee and the player’s huge wage demands or whether the terms are different for an English club.

Ten Hag will hope Ugarte can hit the ground running and Mount can return soon so that he can afford to give some much-needed rest to Mainoo who has been overworked by both club and country.

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