The chilling message came in a telephone call to the Spurs training ground in Enfield, Middlesex, on Sunday around tea-time.

Did Bale pick up the phone?

Sources close to Bale have confirmed the threat was brief, and has been taken seriously.

At least it has been by the Daily Star.

The Wales star was not at the training ground when the call was made but it is understood security has been stepped up in the light of it.

So. An idiot made a crank call to the Spurs switchboard.

And Bale did turn up later:

Despite claims that Bale – who is becoming increasingly angry at his £105m move to the Bernabeu being blocked by chairman Daniel Levy – was ready to shun training this week, he did turn up yesterday.

On that £105m move, the Indy reports:

Transfer news: Tottenham insist Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata must be included in £87m deal for Gareth Bale

Bale’s a lot cheaper in the Indy.

And in any case, Bale’s not for sale. As the Express reports:

Andre Villas-Boas insists the only talks between Tottenham and Real Madrid regarding Gareth Bale have been to tell the Spanish club he is not for sale.

And the Guardian:

“I think the rumours that anything is imminent are not true,” the Spurs manager said. “We’ve allowed ourselves conversations with Real Madrid, confirmed by their coach, I think, wrongly, but the only thing we’ve communicated is that the player is our player and not for sale.”

Back to the Indy, then:

Negotiations between Tottenham and Real Madrid over the sale of Gareth Bale have been stepped up in the past 24 hours, but with Spurs insisting on the inclusion of Spain’s Under-21 international Alvaro Morata in the proposed £87m transfer.

Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, has made it clear in opening discussions with the Madrid board that he wants the highly rated striker included in the deal.

Looks like AVB is wrong. Unless you read the Huff Post:

Now Spurs will hold no further talks with Madrid until they increase their £80m/£83.6m/depending-on-which-paper-you-read’s-figure forGareth Bale, say the Telegraph.

H;s getting cheaper. And, once again, back in the Indy:

A meeting between Levy and Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, is scheduled for this week in Florida.

In other news, Bale is no longer on Spurs’ Twitter page:

The image of Bale celebrating was being used as the background on the @SpursOfficial site.

Kyle Walker, Jan Vetonghen and now-departed Clint Dempsey also featured – but now Bale and Dempsey have been replaced by Moussa Dembele and Aaron Lennon.

All of whom, like Bale, are not for sale…