Deleted tweets by James Maddison, in which he called Gareth Bale a 'monkey' and said he dislikes Tottenham, have emerged as he closes in on a £45million move there.

The England international is set for a medical at the north London club after Leicester City accepted an offer of £40m plus £5m in add-ons.

But eagle-eyed fans spotted two posts about former Spurs star Bale, from 2012 and 2013, have been removed from Maddison's account.

In the first tweet, from November 17, 2012, Maddison wrote: 'I hate Gareth Bale with a passion, calm down you monkey, [Jack] Wilshere is 10x better than you chimpanzee.'

And in another, from March 10, 2013, Maddison posted: 'Hope Luis Suarez destroys Tottenham today, don't like Spurs! Especially that monkey everyone's on about!'

Maddison was 15 and 16, playing for Coventry City's youth team, when he posted the remarks, which resurfaced on social media when he was linked with Tottenham.

No posts before December 2019 are now visible on the player's Twitter account.  

Suarez was playing for Liverpool at the time and did indeed score in a 3-2 win over Spurs that day.

Bale played 203 times for Tottenham between 2007 and 2013, developing into one of the world's best players, before a world record £85.3m move to Real Madrid.

Reports on Tuesday night said Leicester had reached a verbal agreement with Tottenham to sign Maddison, who is primed to undergo his medical.

The attacking midfielder had already agreed terms of £170,000-a-week at Spurs and Leicester, who suffered relegation from the Premier League on the final day of the season, have given the green light.

Mail Sport reported the fee is in the region of £40m with add-ons potentially increasing that to £45m.

Spurs saw off interest from Newcastle for the England international, who made 19 goals contributions in 32 appearances last season.

Despite Leicester's poor form, Maddison made England's squad for the World Cup in Qatar last November but didn't make an appearance.

Maddison's Leicester team-mate Harvey Barnes may yet join him in north London. 

Barnes also has interest from Arsenal and West Ham, and could be waiting until later in the window for his future to be resolved while Leicester determine his price. 

Spurs made their first signing of the window on Tuesday, securing the services of Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario for £17m with a five-year deal. 

The club also made Dejan Kulusevski's 18-month loan deal permanent after agreeing a cut-price £25m fee.