The club believe their sporting director, who is poised to become head of scouting and youth development at Chelsea, is more valuable than any of their players.
It leaves the Premiership champions facing a second tapping-up probe, just days after the club and their manager Jose Mourinho were fined £500,000 for illegally approaching Ashley Cole.
But if the League launches a new inquiry and eventually finds against Chelsea, the approach to Arnesen will not trigger the suspended three points penalty imposed for their conduct in the Cole case.
That applies only to another breach of Premier League rule K3, covering illegal approaches to players, rather than U10, which covers approaches to other club staff.
Tottenham say they still want Chelsea to face a points deduction and are also considering legal action against the Dane for breach of contract. Levy has spent the past two weeks trying to persuade Arnesen to stay, offering him a new pay package of more than £1million a year. But it is thought Chelsea have offered him around £2.5million a year.
Levy discovered Chelsea's interest in Arnesen two weeks ago though there are suspicions of contact being made much earlier. Chelsea poached Spurs' head physio Dean Kenneally a month ago and this move would form part of their evidence to any future inquiry.
Furious with Arnesen and Chelsea, the club are even threatening to enforce his contract and make him spend two years on 'gardening leave'.
Tottenham take the view that Arnesen's shrewd recruitment has added millions to the value of the squad and the compensation should reflect the revenue they will lose over the remaining two years of his contract.
Given the strong wording of the club statement which accused Chelsea of a 'direct breach of FAPL rules', they are obliged to make a formal complaint to the Premier League.
