Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot has hit back at media outlets claiming he was on strike after the club cut player wages during the coronavirus pandemic.
Newspaper reports in Italy and his native France accused Rabiot of taking personal action in response to seeing his salary slashed, with all Serie A clubs taking such measures to protect their finances during the league's suspension.
But Rabiot managed to see the funny side, posting a photo of himself looking distracted to his Instagram story with the caption, "when you realise it was the last day of… strike" accompanied by laughing emojis.
A follow-up post featured an illustration of a medicine bottle, its label reading: "Newspapers-TV, press – do not swallow".
Rabiot has been self-isolating in France during the pandemic and remains there despite many of his team-mates returning to training in Turin, as Serie A edges closer to resuming.
His decision to stay in France is, according to a report from an Italian newspaper, what his "personal strike" has amounted to, though he is expected to travel to Italy on Wednesday.
He will be forced to endure another 14-day period of self-isolation after arriving, as the Italian government is instructing those returning from abroad to quarantine themselves in an attempt to quell COVID-19's spread.
The virus has been contracted by over 221,000 people in Italy, with more than 30,000 of them dying.
