Tottenham Will Reportedly Rival Barcelona, Liverpool for Adrien Rabiot Transfer

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly interested in signing Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot, with the French club said to have accepted the player will leave in the January transfer window. 

According to Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror, Spurs are ready to battle with the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona to sign the 23-year-old.

Rabiot's current contract at the Parc des Princes is set to run out at the end of the 2018-19 campaign. It means that if he isn't sold in the January window he is free to agree a pre-contract with any club that would see him move for free at the end of the season.

Paris United (h/t Get French Football News) reported Rabiot has turned down a new deal from the French champions that would have included an annual salary of €7.2 million (£6.4 million). 

According to Lewis, despite numerous contract offers being made to the player by PSG, none have been accepted, and they are now resigned to losing him.

For PSG the January departure of Rabiot would potentially leave them light in midfield. Early in the campaign so far, manager Thomas Tuchel has used Marquinhos, who is at his best in the centre of defence, in a more advanced role.

Rabiot has taken on a lot of responsibility in the early stages of the campaign as a result and has been the man to dictate the tempo for PSG in their eight Ligue 1 wins from eight games so far this term:

For Tottenham, getting Rabiot for a knockdown price in the midseason transfer window would represent a major coup.

Rabiot would fit the style of manager Mauricio Pochettino perfectly. In possession, as the above figures illustrate, he is so smooth and uses the ball well. But Rabiot has physical gifts in terms of his stature, change of pace and aerial ability that would make him suited to English football.

He would also potentially be an ideal long-term successor to Mousa Dembele, who has showed some signs of slowing down recently. 

James Gheerbrant of The Times is concerned Dembele's time at the top level may be over:

Still, for Spurs it'll be tough to edge ahead of the likes of Barcelona and Liverpool in the race for the player, as they're both better equipped at this moment in time to challenge for major honours.

But Pochettino has proved himself as an excellent manager when it comes to developing youngsters, and if Rabiot does want to push on to become an elite midfielder, the Spurs boss may be the ideal man to manage him.