Rowe opens up on Rabiot fight: ‘They didn’t see the punch he threw at the start’

Bologna’s Jonathan Rowe has opened up about the fight he had with Milan’s Adrien Rabiot, which led to them both being sold by Marseille last summer, and has spoken in-depth about the differences between playing for Roberto De Zerbi in Ligue 1 and under Vincenzo Italiano in Serie A.

The former England U21 star sat down for a feature interview with James Horncastle and The Athletic, discussing his experiences with Marseille and Bologna.

It has been a successful start to life in Italy for the 23-year-old, who has 13 goal involvements from 43 appearances across all competitions this term.

“I feel like I’ve settled in now. I feel comfortable. It’s not even been a year yet but I’ve started to find my feet,” says the Englishman.

Less than a year ago, Rowe was caught up in a dressing-room bust-up involving several members of the Marseille team and staff, which ultimately led to his and Adrien Rabiot’s departure from the club last summer.

It has been reported that Rowe was involved in an argument with goalkeeper Guillermo Rulli, which led to Rabiot getting involved and ultimately ended in security staff having to break the whole thing up.

“It got heated. It was something he said,” Rowe recalled.

“The thing is, De Zerbi and Mehdi (Benatia), the (sporting) director, did not see the first punch (Rabiot) threw right at the start. They only saw me come back and hit him. So they probably thought I just hit him out of nowhere. I kind of had to explain it after.

“Emotions were flaring. Things got out of control. These things happen a lot in changing rooms, more than people probably realise.”

Despite being shown the way to the Marseille exit as a result of the altercation last summer, Rowe says that he had a lot to learn from De Zerbi.

“With De Zerbi I realised you have got to pay more attention to the details.From your first touch to the next pass, to when the ball is on the other side of the pitch. It’s like when you’re driving. You have got to be three steps ahead just in case something happens and you have to be ready to make an intelligent decision.

“Sometimes in training I could get a bit bored because of the build-up that we’d be doing would mainly be focused on the defences and the midfielders in order to get the ball to us attackers.

“You’d be standing around in the hot sun for a few hours. But in a way that trains your brain to stay focused no matter what’s going on in the game. You might see the ball once every 10 or 15 minutes but when you get that ball you have to be decisive or you have to make something happen and create.”

Rowe says that he was taken aback by some of De Zerbi’s training methods and team-bonding exercises: “I’d never done this before. I didn’t even know this was allowed in football.

“We went into the middle of nowhere, in the woods, in the cold. We’d wake up at 4am. We’d go to do some run or we’d walk into the woods. Then we’d do push-ups, a little core circuit with the flashlights out in the pitch black then another walk. Then we’d do hill sprints. You know, the fireworks, the pyro; whatever you call it that the fans use in the stadiums. He’d rip one of them open and start walking like we’re Vikings.”

Moving to Bologna has helped Rowe develop even further as a player, though: “It suits my game play,” Rowe says. “When it’s right, when it pays off; winning the ball high up the field, pressing, counter-attacking, being direct. I feel that sums up my game. When it pays off and the rest of the team is on the same wavelength, it almost feels unstoppable.