Gareth Bale has been left out of the Real Madrid squad to face Atletico Madrid in La Liga this weekend, amid rumours of a potential return to Tottenham.
The 30-year-old has seen speculation on his future circulate for the past year and a suggestion of a return to the Premier League has been muted for some time.
Heading into deadline day, reports speculated that Tottenham were in discussions with Real Madrid regarding a potential return for the Wales international to North London.
However, Football.London understands that it's not the case - and Zinedine Zidane confirmed a move would not occur on deadline day in his pre-match press conference.
Just a few hours later though, Real Madrid announced their 19-man squad for the Madrid derby against Atletico this weekend and Bale was not included due to a 'technical decision'.
Karim Benzema, Lucas Vazquez, Luka Jovic and Vinicius Jr are the forwards included by Zidane, leaving Bale in the shadows once again - which will add further fuel to the transfer rumours.
While a return to the Premier League before the 11pm deadline is extremely unlikely, an exit from Madrid could still materialise in the coming weeks as other transfer windows, including the one in China, will remain open.
