The agent of former Juventus player Adrien Rabiot demanded a €10MILLION fee as part of a proposed move to West Ham, according to a French source.
Stories of unrealistic demands from agents and representatives are, of course, nothing new in the world of professional football.However the fee requested by Rabiot's agent was considerably more excessive than even most Premier League clubs, where funds are not exactly in short supply, are used to.
According to former pro and current FIFA agent Grégoire Akcelrod, during the summer West Ham were particularly interested in signing the 29-year-old central midfielder, who eventually joined Marseille on a free transfer - until they discovered his agent's demands.
"Rabiot finds himself at a club that finished 8th in Ligue 1 last season and does not play in the European Cup," he revealed. "It's not because he earns €20m per year at Marseille.
"When you have interest - confirmed by reliable sources - from Atlético de Madrid, AC Milan and West Ham, I wondered how this player who has three big clubs chasing him ends up in Ligue 1.
"And it's quite simple. His mother, who is his agent - even though she does not have the right to be an agent and if reported to FIFA she would be fined - asked for a €10m signing bonus.
"All three clubs refused to agree to those terms and that's why the player found himself without a club on 1 September. We are talking about a player from the current France national team."
Having baulked at the representative's unreasonable demands, West Ham opted instead to sign Argentina midfielder Guido Rodriguez on a free transfer and Carlos Soler on loan from PSG.
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