England prop Ellis Genge's club future appears to still be up in the air.
Last week The Rugby Paper reported Genge's former club Bristol Bears had made an offer for the Leicester Tigers loosehead to return to Ashton Gate next season but it fell short of expectations.
The publication reports he is close to signing a new three-year deal at Welford Road.
Genge, 24, was a a part of England's Rugby World Cup squad which reached the final in Japan before losing 32-12 to South Africa.
Despite missing out on the final squad during the course of the tournament Genge reminded everyone of his devastating ball carrying with a run against the USA which went viral on social media.
Genge, who now has 14 caps for England, left Bristol for Leicester Tigers midway through the 2015/16 season, following a series of problems both on the field, and off it.
The forward who grew up on an estate in Knowle West felt he had to leave the city after getting arrested several times.
There were also unconfirmed reports of a training ground bust-up with then coach Andy Robinson.
However Bears director of rugby Pat Lam, who arrived after the frontrower had moved on, has made no secret of the fact that he is a big admirer of the prop and would like to bring him back to the West Country.
Speaking back in May as a guest on BT Sport's Rugby Tonight , Lam said: “Would we like Ellis Genge to come home? Of course we would.”
In the past Genge has also expressed his desire to one day return to Bristol.
Bristol currently have four senior loosehead props at the club in Samoan international brothers James, 25, and Jordan Lay, 27, Yann Thomas, 29 and Jake Woolmore, 28.
On Tuesday Leicester Tigers director of rugby Geordan Murphy confirmed contract negotiations with Genge are "ongoing" with the Midlands club keen to keep hold of one of their stand-out stars.
Speaking to the Leicester Mercury, Murphy said: "We have been in contract negotiations with Ellis since before the World Cup, as with some of the other guys who there has been huge speculation about.
"When the guys were away we stepped down our chat in order to let them focus on the World Cup.
"Ellis has come back and has been very vocal about telling us he wants to re-sign and contract negotiations are ongoing."
However the situation has been confused further by regular social media user Genge's tweet to BBC Radio Leicester journalist Adam Whitty.
The saga certainly doesn't seem to be over just yet.
