With both La Liga and Premier League seasons now in full swing, the likelihood of any late switches from the top flight is minimal. If nothing else, clubs want to be settled by this point of the season, and frankly, still having the transfer window open across Europe makes little sense. In any event, the careers of one or two players that were expected to move this summer appear to have stagnated. Paul Pogba won’t be moving from Manchester United, ditto Christian Eriksen from Tottenham. Gareth Bale will, finally, be staying put in Madrid. For now. However, the future of the latter two players could be intertwined. Though he’s had to accept his lot, Eriksen has made it crystal clear to his paymasters at Spurs that he wants out. His preference is, and always has been Real Madrid, and though the two teams weren’t able to conclude a deal this summer, it wasn’t for the want of trying. Bale’s situation appears to be more clear cut than it was a few weeks ago, when it appeared he was on the verge of leaving for China, but don’t let the Los Blancos love in fool you. There’s no doubt at all that Zinedine Zidane is playing the Welshman through gritted teeth. For reasons that still remain unclear, the Frenchman has never taken to Bale, and was left with egg on his face after the whole sorry saga began to unravel. Let’s be clear. Florentino Perez only pulled the plug on the deal to China because the buying club expected to get him on a free transfer which the president, understandably, didn’t want to accede to. It left Zidane with little option but to consider his options with regard to Bale, given the timing. As it turned out, the wide man has played well in the opening few games of the campaign, but it’s a fruitless endeavour. With other strikers still to be integrated into the front line, Zidane knows that he has to move certain players on, and by playing hard ball with Bale, it’s bound to weary him in the end.