Gareth Bale wants to leave Tottenham over concerns for their Champions League prospects.
The Mail on Sunday says Bale was stunned by Tottenham's decision to reject a world record £82 million bid from Real Madrid for him.
Bale faces the prospect in a year's time of celebrating his 25th birthday with just one season of Champions League football behind him; no record for a player rated by Jose Mourinho as the third-most valuable in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
That is the over-riding factor in his thinking despite many things to keep him in England. He likes his manager, his family are settled in England with baby daughter Alba born earlier this year and he has a lucrative contract promoting BT Sport's coverage of the Premier League.
But when a footballing legend like Zinedine Zidane courts you and Real Madrid back it up with a world-record offer to play in the biggest club competition of all, it is hard not to have your head turned.
As a close friend of Bale's said recently: "Which player wouldn't want to play with Modric, Ozil and Ronaldo as team-mates. Tottenham is a fantastic club, but it's not Real Madrid."