Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly eyeing a possible summer move for Barcelona starlet Ansu Fati, with the highly-rated wonderkid seemingly facing an uncertain future at Camp Nou.

What's the word?

According to La Vanguardia (via Sport Witness), the Lilywhites - along with bitter rivals Arsenal - are said to have shown an interest in the exciting 20-year-old, with the La Liga club's financial woes potentially sparking belief that a sale could be on the cards at the end of the season.

The report suggests that while neither of the north London clubs have yet made an approach for the Spain international, they are both believed to be hopeful that they could get a deal secured, should the Catalan giants sanction a departure.

The piece adds that the seven-cap sensation - who reportedly has a €1bn (£846mm) release clause in his existing contract - is being affected by his lack of game-time under Xavi Hernandez this season, having only made nine starts in all competitions.

Conte's answer to Rashford

Despite that limited involvement, the fleet-footed "machine" - as lauded by former team-mate Dani Alves - has still managed to showcase his quality in recent months, having provided six goals and three assists in 31 games across all fronts to date in 2022/23.

That has ensured that, despite his relative youth and persistent injury setbacks, the 5 foot 10 superstar boasts a return of 34 goal involvements in just 89 games for La Blaugrana, having burst onto the scene at the tender age of 16 back in 2019.

A player capable of producing moments of "magic", in the words of club colleague Eric Garcia, the £237k-per-week gem would certainly provide Antonio Conte with another eye-catching attacking weapon for his forward line.

Any possible fears of whether the Guinea-Bissau-born speedster would be able to make the transition to life in the Premier League can be eased by the fact that he is said to share a number of stylistic and statistical similarities to Manchester United talisman Marcus Rashford, according to FBref.

The latter is currently proving to be a real difference maker for the Red Devils with 20 goals already in all competitions this season, with the "unstoppable" marksman - as described by Erik ten Hag - helping to maintain United's top-four push, potentially at the expense of Conte's side.

It would no doubt prove a real coup for Tottenham to find an answer to the 25-year-old in the form of Fati, with the explosive Spaniard also able to mirror Rashford's versatility with his ability to feature all across the front line.

The likeness between the pair is also illustrated by the fact that Fati averages 2.36 progressive passes and 2.99 progressive carries per 90 over the past year, while the Three Lions star averages 2.42 and 2.62 respectively for those two metrics. Those numbers show that the two players can cause havoc both with their creativity, as well as their ability to surge forward with the ball at their feet.

With Rashford currently utilising such traits to devastating effect at Old Trafford, Spurs could respond by bringing Fati to England ahead of next season.