Football Insider Rudiger Story Is Read Over Marmalade As Pondering, Exploring And Swoop, Containing One Source

A Tottenham man sat down at his kitchen table at 7.40am on Saturday and read that Tottenham are pondering a move for Antonio Rüdiger. By 7.52am the same story had reached him in three further forms.

The original appeared on Football Insider, which reports that Spurs are keeping a close eye on the Real Madrid centre-back ahead of next summer. It also notes that the club could act before his contract expires, and that a move to the Saudi Pro League is considered the likelier outcome.

The second website, read over the first slice of toast, had Spurs exploring a move. The Herald has examined both articles side by side and can find no explanation for the upgrade, other than that exploring is a larger word.

It says they're exploring it now. That's different to pondering. That's got legs.

The third website, consulted during the second slice, reported that Spurs were closely monitoring the situation. The fourth, read standing up with the kettle still going, said the club "could launch a swoop". All four sites cite the same single source, which the Herald counted twice to be sure.

The story also notes that Rüdiger will turn 34 in March, that he is 6ft 3in, and that he was once described as phenomenal by a man who is not at the table. None of this had changed by the fourth reading, and the height was, if anything, a little shorter.

By the end of breakfast the man had moved from "pondering" to "Spurs are going for him" without any further information arriving. He has since told his household that the club is understood to be interested, and that he got there first.

The toast was cold by then. He ate it anyway.