Liverpool HAVE made initial move for Adrien Rabiot but he only wants Real Madrid

Liverpool have made initial contact over a new midfielder - but the 29-year-old has his heart set on Real Madrid.

Calciomercato claims that Liverpool, along with Newcastle United, have made first contact over Adrien Rabiot. The Frenchman is now out of contract, with his deal at Juventus expiring at the start of this month.

Teams can now snap him up on a free transfer - as long as they can pay his wages. They're not cheap, either, with reports suggesting as high as £7.74m per year.

But there's an even bigger snag here. Calciomercato's report suggests Rabiot has his heart set on a move already and it continues a common theme for Liverpool.

Rabiot hopes to sign for Real Madrid and isn't particularly open to moves elsewhere until that one's either written off or completed. The Reds, of course, have lost a series of targets to Real Madrid over the last few years without successfully signing a single one from under their noses.

Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé are the highest-profile ones, but even just this summer they've apparently lost out to Los Blancos over Leny Yoro. At some point, surely, things have got to change.

Rabiot wants Real Madrid

Not every player can play for Real Madrid. There's got to be a point where this holds true because as things stand, they're pretty remarkable finding room for just about every Liverpool target.

Most of the biggest ones, anyway.

Now, Rabiot wouldn't fall into that category and in truth, we don't see much room for him as it is. He's an excellent midfielder at his best - a part of six title-winning teams - but he's also best in a position Liverpool are well stocked.

It doesn't make too much sense to sign a forward-thinking midfielder when Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are all battling for that role. We're not certain there's much behind this one, then.

For once, Liverpool shouldn't feel too bad about a player wanting Real Madrid.