Tottenham Hotspur are set to ramp up their pursuit of Antonio Rudiger in the coming days, according to an inside source...

What's the word?

As revealed by Football Insider this week, the north London outfit are in the race to sign the £100k-per-week Germany international after he rejected a new Chelsea contract, meaning he is currently free to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Valued at £31.5m by Transfermarkt, it is thought that Spurs have planned discussions behind-the-scenes in an effort to persuade the 28-year-old to swap the Blues for their capital city rivals in 2022.

Lilywhites sporting director Fabio Paratici is said to be pushing hard to get an early agreement in place but they will face a battle to secure him as foreign teams can seal him on a pre-contract agreement as early as January, something that Spurs do not have the luxury of.

Statement signing

This would be quite an outlandish move from Spurs, considering their west London rivals won the Champions League last summer and are quite some way ahead of them on and off the pitch.

However, the fact that Antonio Conte is in charge boosts their chances of landing the 6 foot 3 colossus as the pair worked together when the Italian was at the helm.

45 of his 172 appearances for the Blues came under Conte as they won the 2017/18 FA Cup together, leading to the German describing the 52-year-old as a "very good coach" to reporters.

Rudiger has been one of Chelsea's standout performers under Thomas Tuchel over the past 12 months, with BT Sport pundit and Premier League legend Rio Ferdinand a big fan.

"Look at Rudiger, he’s arguably, since Tuchel has been there [at Chelsea], been the best defender in the Premier League," he told his podcast (via the Metro). "Him or [Ruben] Dias in that time. He’s been unbelievable, he’s like an animal."

Indeed, the German is just one of two players to have played every minute of every Premier League outing for the Blues this term, where he has averaged a second-most 2.2 aerial duels won, 1.1 tackles and an 86.9% passing accuracy when managing over 70 attempts per game, as per WhoScored.

Evidently, Rudiger is an efficient ball-playing defender and one that would instantly improve Spurs' backline, not just because of his trophy record at Stamford Bridge.

The vastly-experienced defender would be quite the signing to make next year and it would certainly reveal the ambitions of the club under Conte. As such, many around N17 must be absolutely excited by this latest development.

Spurs fans would surely love Rudiger at the club, so this update should provide some huge encouragement heading into January.

AND in other news, Paratici eyes Spurs bargain after "courting" £18m-rated maestro, Conte would love him...