Adrien Rabiot could have been lining up against domestic team-mates when his France side take on England in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final.
The 27-year-old spent a brief spell with Manchester City earlier in his career, before being, what the midfielder’s former agent and City scout, Philippe Kontostavlos, describes as a “calculated” move by Paris Saint-Germain, poached him from the English giants.
Tomorrow night, Rabiot is expected to start as France take on the Three Lions at the Al Bayt Stadium but, 14 years earlier, the teenager was without a club and his dream of becoming a professional football was quickly dying. Having been overlooked at France’s world-famous Clairefontaine youth recruitment system, his prospects looked bleak.
“I saw him for the first time in the 2008-09 season in May-June in the last rounds of trials to make it at the France Football Federation (FFF) academy at Clairefontaine,” Kontostavlos told Standard Sport.
“I represented Man City so they had a policy not to give me the team sheets. I looked and saw Rabiot was the best player at his age. He was very comfortable on the ball, and he played very simply but at this age, it is very rare to see players with discipline playing simply.
“Everything was one-touch, two-touch and he had a very sweet left foot with a good right foot. He was very aggressive but clever. When I saw these qualities, I wanted to know who he was. I saw his number and heard his name was Adrien from the pitch.
“I had to see the names through the parking list without the teamsheet. By chance, I saw the list and saw there was only one Adrien, it was Rabiot. I got the phone number of the mother and had a meeting with her. I was shocked to hear that he wasn’t signed to a French academy for a player of his quality and age.
“His mother was very excited about the possibility of joining Man City. He didn’t get picked up by the FFF and only two players made it from the age group into top-flight professional careers and none are as good as he is now.”
He was the best player we had, playing in the Under-16 team aged 13 and 14.
He continued: “I immediately told Man City but the academy was closed for the summer so we could not have him on trial. I told them we mustn’t lose this opportunity. They told me they trust me to sign him but if he is not good enough, then we will break your contract because it will have cost us a lot of money. They asked me if I wanted to take the risk and I said yes.
“He arrived in July and after the first training session, the head of recruitment called me to say he was the best player we have. He was playing in the Under-16 team aged 13 and 14. I told them ‘now you won’t sack me’... they said, ‘of course, it was only a joke’.
“We moved the mother and brother over to England. They got them a big seven-bedroom house in Cheadle which is a posh part of Manchester, they were taken to private school and given a car with tickets to fly back to France when they needed to go back.”
After a few months at Man City, his mother Veronique - who to this day reportedly holds great sway over her son’s career - is said to have wanted a return to France.
Kontostavlos, who was briefly Rabiot’s first agent after bringing him to England, says PSG essentially poached his client from the Premier League giants, though officially he played for two smaller academies in between.
“I don’t have one per cent of anger towards the boy because he was not guilty. He was very polite, always smiling and respectful. It was not Adrien’s decision, definitely not. It was the mother who wanted to go back.
“He left Man City for PSG, but at that time PSG wasn’t as strong. They didn’t have the power to give him what he needed so they sent him to academies at regional teams in Toulouse and then he went to Paris. It explains how you leave Man City to go to very small academies Pau FC and Pole Espoirs.
“It was all calculated as it was clever. They didn’t want a war with Man City and they didn’t want to spend more money. It was a shame as he was in one of England’s best academies at 13.
“They had the contract ready for him at 17 to go pro. He has had a good career, who knows it could have been better. Everyone has their own history and it went well for him but his career could have been more linear if he stayed in England.”
Kontostavlos was City’s first French scout, as the club was rebuilt with new money after their Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, and recommended a host of players like Cedric Bakambou, M'baye Niang, Jerome Roussilon Paul Pogba to the wealthy club.
In Pogba’s case, he urged Man City to do everything to hijack Manchester United’s bid but accepts that the club couldn’t match their rival’s clout at the time.
“I also scouted Paul Pogba for Man City and he was happy to go there from Le Harve but Manchester United had contacted him first,” he added.
“Le Harve told Pogba that he might not be kept for another season at the start of that season. I thought Pogba was great. I dealt with his former agent Walid [Tanazefti] before Mino Raiola represented him.
“You can understand why he went to Man United because it was sexier to join them at that time.”
