Man Utd scout Adrien Rabiot in France's defeat to Switzerland
By Tom Gott
Manchester United sent a scout to the Arena Nationala in Bucharest on Monday, with France midfielder Adrien Rabiot understood to be the focus of their mission.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is on the lookout for a new central midfielder this summer, with Rennes' Eduardo Camavinga an option which has recently gained a lot of traction.
A meeting with Camavinga's representatives is believed to have been scheduled for the coming days, but United appear to be considering all their options as the Daily Star claim Rabiot was being watched closely by a scout during France's surprise defeat to Switzerland on Monday.
It was probably the worst possible time to watch Rabiot, who began the game as a left wing-back, spent a few minutes in his favoured midfield position and then ended the game as a traditional left-back. It wasn't the Juventus man's finest game, but he was being forced to play wildly out of position because of injuries to Lucas Hernandez and Lucas Digne.
The United scout will likely not have been waxing lyrical about Rabiot's performance in this game, but there's no denying the Frenchman's quality.
He made 47 appearances in all competitions for Juventus last season, chipping in with five goals and three assists for good measure, but his future at the Allianz Stadium is up in the air after the team's underwhelming season.
While Rabiot has been solid for Juventus, he has been targeted by plenty of frustration from fans who feel he has not merited the enormous wages which were handed to him when he joined on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in 2019.
With Juventus looking to cut costs this summer, the idea of offloading Rabiot may be discussed, but other reports have suggested new manager Massimiliano Allegri hopes to keep him around.
I Bianconeri are also pushing to sign Sassuolo's Manuel Locatelli this summer for the best part of £40m, and the Italy international's arrival could see Rabiot fall down the pecking order, and it seems as though United are interested in taking advantage of that.
United's primary focus this summer is to finally seal the deal for Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, whose transfer is inching ever closer to completion after a fee of €85m was agreed between the two sides.
The hope is then to find a new centre-back, but plans to sign a central midfielder are still there and it seems as though United are keeping all their options open for the time being.