Los Blancos have left the No 11 shirt vacant for the Welsh winger.
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Spanish champions Real Madrid are said to still be confident of signing wantaway Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Gareth Bale this summer, according to reports in the Sunday Express.
Los Blancos have been keeping close tabs on the Wales international since the end of the previous campaign, with a view to bringing the 24-year-old to the Santiago Bernabeu before the close-season transfer window slams shut once and for all for business for the year on Sept 2.
However, as yet Madrid and their counterpart from north London have been unable to come to any sort of agreement over the sale of the speedy wide man, despite the Spanish club’s president Florentino Perez and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy having recently spent a week in Miami negotiating a possible sale.
Spurs are understood though to be unhappy at Madrid’s insistence that they pay the word-record £87 million transfer fee across a six-year period, with Levy wanted the sum paid up front in full.
But Madrid are believed to still be confident of getting Bale, who scored 26 goals in just 44 matches for Tottenham last season on his way to being crowned the double Footballer of the Year in England, and as such the Spaniards have even left vacant the No 11 shirt that was worn by the now departed Ricardo Carvalho in the previous campaign for the winger next season.
So far, Madrid have added just two new players to their squad this summer, but Spain international Isco was given the No 23 jersey, while Asier Illarramendi was handed the No 24 shirt, meaning the club are still planning on Bale arriving in the Spanish capital before the transfer window closes on Sept 2.