Milan's Rabiot says Marseille dust-up with 'good guy' Rowe in the past

Adrien Rabiot said Friday that he has made peace with Jonathan Rowe after arriving at AC Milan in the wake of a dressing room brawl which led to him being offloaded by Marseille.

France midfielder Rabiot was snapped up by Milan on transfer deadline day for 10 million euros ($11.7 million) following his bust-up with Rowe, his opponent on Sunday when the seven-time European champions host Bologna in Serie A.

Rowe was also frozen out at Marseille after an altercation with Rabiot that kicked off in the aftermath of a 1-0 defeat in Marseille's opening fixture of the Ligue 1 season at Rennes and which coach Roberto De Zerbi called a "bar fight".

But Rabiot told reporters that he had no ill feelings towards Rowe, saying that he was looking forward to seeing the under-21 England international.

"There's nothing in particular left to say. We spoke when he went to Bologna and I came to Milan, and sent each other messages to wish each other well and say that we'll see each other at the San Siro," Rabiot said when asked by AFP.

"It will be good to see him because Jonathan's a good guy. What happened at Marseille was something that can happen in a dressing room anywhere but it's not changed my relationship with him."

The fight caused a scandal in France with Marseille president Pablo Longoria describing the incident as "extremely violent" in an interview with AFP.

De Zerbi said that he hoped the relationship between Marseille and Rabiot could be "repaired" but instead the 30-year-old moved back to Italy just a year after he left Juventus as a free agent.

Rabiot said he had "no regrets" about what happened with Marseille, where he scored 10 goals in 32 appearances and helped the Ligue 1 club reach the Champions League.

"That's life, you can be going well and then things change in a moment. But I think I left Marseille with some good memories," added Rabiot.

"The fans always treated me well, I was there for a season and it was an intense season. I had some great experiences with Marseille, at the stadium with the fans, and I thanked them for that."

Top four ambitions

Rabiot returns not just to Serie A but also to coach Massimiliano Allegri, who coached him for three years at Juventus.

Allegri has been tasked with getting Milan at least back into the Champions League as they have no European football this season following an eighth-place finish last term. 

"I spoke to him when he was hired by Milan but I was still with Marseille, but when what happened happened he immediately called me again," said Rabiot.

"We spoke about the project here at Milan, about the team he wants to build and the ambition to take Milan back into the Champions League, to have a good season.

"In the end it all happened pretty quickly."

Rabiot also said that speaking to his France teammates helped convince him that Milan was the right place for him, including goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

"Obviously Mike spoke very positively of Milan, but even Theo (Hernandez) who has left told me that he hopes I'll get on well here because he considers the club a big family," he said.

"I don't want to say they convinced me because its a prestigious club, history shows you one of the biggest, but it's important to me that players here or who have been here spoke very positively about the club, so that I know that it's the right choice."

Milan currently sit eighth in Italy's top flight with three points after losing their opening fixture with Cremonese before beating Lecce just before the international break.