Tottenham have rejected Bayern Munich's offer of a swap deal involving Tanguy Ndombele and Corentin Tolisso, according to reports.
Ndombele has had a turbulent time since joining Spurs for a club-record transfer fee in 2019.
Bought by Mauricio Pochettino, the France international was at one stage frozen out by Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese then re-integrated the midfielder into the first team, but he now finds himself sidelined once more.
Nuno Espirito Santo did not include Ndombele in his matchday squad for the 1-0 victory over Manchester City last weekend.
Nuno has suggested that Ndombele's lack of motivation to play for Spurs is the reason for his latest absence.
“What happened in the past I can’t even think about, I don’t mention out of respect,” he said.
“What I can tell you is that Tanguy is with us, he works but we have to speak honestly and to take the best out of Tanguy (it) has to come from himself.
“It has to come from himself. I don’t want to go much further than that but it has to come from himself.
“We already had a chance to talk but it must come from himself. I said it before, my job here is not to convince players to play for Tottenham Hotspur, it is to prepare players to play for Tottenham Hotspur.”
According to Sky Germany, Spurs rejected Bayern's offer of a swap deal involving Ndombele and Tolisso.
Bayern also offered £17.2m as part of the proposal, but Tottenham turned the bid down.
Spurs do appear to be in a difficult position. They spent £55m on Ndombele and value him as an asset, but the current manager does not want to select him at present.
Nuno has started well at Tottenham but he might not be around forever, which could be the reason they rejected Bayern's offer.
If the 24-year-old remains in north London on September 1, it is to be hoped that he knuckles down and convinces Nuno he is ready to play for the club.
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