Carlo Ancelotti must be reunited with Adrien Rabiot at Everton during the January transfer window amid rumours of negotiations to sign the Juventus midfielder on loan.

What’s the word?

According to TodoFichajes, the Toffees are in discussions with Juve over a potential deal for Rabiot to move to Goodison Park until the end of the season with an option to buy.

Everton are considered the best-placed side to hire the Frenchman in the mid-season market with Ancelotti keen to work with the 25-year-old again following their time together at Paris Saint-Germain.

Ancelotti is claimed to have instructed the Blues hierarchy to pursue a deal for Rabiot this month, with Andrea Pirlo preparing to reshape his Juventus squad with several players touted for uncertain futures.

Rabiot has struggled to establish himself under Pirlo at the Allianz Stadium this season and is expected to be made available for a transfer, having started only nine of his 12 Serie A appearances and three of five outings in the Champions League Group Stage.

The £29m-rated maestro has provided one goal thus far this term, coming in a 4-1 win away to Spezia Calcio, and has two-and-a-half-years remaining on the £176,000-per-week contract signed in 2019.

Everton were linked with interest in Rabiot last summer whilst he faced an uncertain future in Turin, having been placed high on Juventus’ shortlist for potential sales amid needs to balance the books just a year on from joining.

Time to reunite

Everton could end January with the addition of two Juventus midfielders with talks to sign Sami Khedira still said to be underway, but their Director of Football Marcel Brands ought to shelve any plans to land the German and focus his efforts on reuniting Ancelotti with Rabiot.

Rabiot featured just nine times under Ancelotti during the 2012/13 campaign as the midfielder sought to breakthrough into the PSG first-team, but has gone on to become a widely-lauded talent with six Ligue 1 trophies, plus Serie A, French Cup and French Super Cup honours in his trophy cabinet.

The 11-cap France international has also been praised by Italy great Gianluigi Buffon as an “incredible” player, who offers Juventus a real blend of abilities.

“He is a fantastic mix, he has the physical strength of [Paul] Pogba, who is like a wardrobe, has the personality of [Arturo] Vidal and potentially the dynamism of [Claudio] Marchisio,” Buffon told Corriere dello Sport, via quotes by Goal.

“He is incredible, extremely strong. He needs to improve his timing when approaching the opponent's penalty area, but he can become a player with 10 goals per season.”

Rabiot may have only scored once thus far this season but has contributed 1.0 shots per Serie A game, and would serve as an upgrade on Andre Gomes at Goodison Park with the Everton midfielder taking just 0.2 efforts on goal during Premier League fixtures.

Gomes also offers fewer successful dribbles (1.1 to 1.5), successful tackles (1.1 to 2.3), interceptions (0.1 to 1.7) and duels won both on the ground (2.5 to 4.3) and in the air (0.6 to 1.1), per SofaScore.

AND in other news, Everton can reach a new level by signing a “complete” £31.5m-rated maestro in January.