Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly eyeing a bargain swoop for Leicester City outcast Demarai Gray, with the north London outfit open to a pre-contract agreement.

What’s the word?

According to Duncan Castle, while speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Spurs are looking to seal Gray’s services with the winger out of contract at the end of the season and available on a free.

Gray joined Leicester in 2016 from Birmingham City and helped the Foxes to clinch their 5,000-1 Premier League title, but has found game time increasingly hard to come by since and is yet to feature in a top-flight fixture this term.

Brendan Rodgers has not chosen to include the pacey 24-year-old in any of his nine matchday squads thus far this season, either, but has previously stated that his intentions were to retain Gray nonetheless.

“He’s obviously a player we want to keep,” Rodgers said, via quotes by the Leicester Mercury. “He’s got wonderful talent. He can dribble, he can do everything. With Demarai, it’s always been about that end product, creating goals and assisting goals on a regular basis, and then working with an intensity to fit in with the structure of the team.”

But Leicester chiefs have grown resigned to losing Gray for free at the end of the season, and expect the England international to join Spurs when his £55,000-per-week contract expires.

Tottenham are believed to be interested in a deal for Gray, although it is not guaranteed the winger will move to north London with interest expected to be high given the need for homegrown players in Premier League and European squads.

Should Spurs sign him?

With Gray set to be available in the summer and able to agree pre-contracts in January, he could make a wise addition to Jose Mourinho’s squad at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and without Chairman Daniel Levy having to pay a single penny toward a transfer fee.

Mourinho and Levy will have to prove to Gray that Spurs represents the best club for him to develop his talent, though, as the winger has allegedly grown frustrated at being shunned to the fringes at Leicester.

Gray is also said to have been informed that Rodgers will not offer regular game time with his contract expiring, something that may see the winger fear a move to north London with Carlos Vinicius playing just 12 minutes, Dele Alli just 67 minutes and Giovani Lo Celso just 210 minutes in the Premier League this term.

But his potential – as described by Rodgers in a glowing endorsement of the man he believes “can do everything” – should be reason enough for Mourinho and Levy to at least try and sign Gray to a pre-contract in January, as well as adding another homegrown player for the quotas.

AND in other news, a Spurs gem who isn’t “shy” has a mountain to climb if he’s to win Jose Mourinho over.