Tottenham chasing PSG youth star

A new rumor appears. Well, not new. Back in May, Bryan A. wrote up a rumor linking Tottenham Hotspur to Paris Saint-Germain's Adrien Rabiot, so the club's interest is not a shock. The story here is that Rabiot's contract expires next summer and despite PSG's stated interest in extending their young star's time in Paris, he has not accepted a new deal. A transfer seems quite likely before the end of the summer if they cannot convice Rabiot to re-sign.

For most of the summer, Rabiot's suitors have been Champions League clubs Arsenal, Juventus and AS Roma. You would not expect Spurs to be able to win a bidding war with one of those clubs, let alone three. But according to L'Équipe, money has been a sticking point in those negotiations, which then could open the door for Tottenham. My quickie squint and google translate version of the story:

Paris Saint-German demands €10-12M for the sale [of Rabiot] this summer. At this price, the potential buyers are not numerous. According to our sources, another has recently appeared. It is Tottenham, who have been studying the situation closely.

So, basically, Arsenal et al. have not met PSG's valuation of Rabiot. Spurs enter the picture as potential suitors who could pay. This strikes me as precisely the sort of story that PSG's directors would want to see in the papers. A bunch of big clubs won't meet their demands, in comes a slightly smaller club that nonetheless is more than financially capable of paying £8-10M.

I do not know how serious Tottenham's interest is, but my initial take is skepticism. Have we monitored Rabiot? Probably. He's a youth star on an expiring contract. But this report looks like a case of PSG using Spurs' general interest to drum up a better price from Rabiot's existing suitors. And if Rabiot would prefer an Arsenal move, "leaking" that Spurs are after him is a smart move by his agent.

I can see a place for Rabiot in this squad if Sandro is sold and the Morgan Schneiderlin sale does not come through, but I don't think this story tells us that such a move is all that likely.