Darlington's hopes of landing former England star Paul Gascoigne appear to be fading after United Arab Emirates club Al Jazira claimed the midfielder was close to joining them.

Al Jazira's account manager Paul Austin-Price insists Gascoigne is only in England to visit family and friends, despite reports the player was set for a return to his native North-East with Quakers

Austin-Price added that he was confident the former Newcastle, Lazio and Rangers player would be making his latest footballing comeback with Al Jazira.

Gascoigne walked out on Chinese Second Division club Gansu during the summer after failing to settle.

Referring to claims Gascoigne was about to sign for Third Division Quakers, Austin-Price said: "We spoke to Paul and he has not relayed anything to this effect to us.

"I can't see him signing for a Division Three club.

"All we know following our contact with Paul is that he has gone back to England to spend some time with his family after a hectic week here in Dubai and he is waiting for all preparations to be complete to make his debut here.

"Hopefully we should be having him playing here in his debut match sometime in November."

On Tuesday, Gascoigne's agents, Grass Roots Management, exclusively revealed to Northern Echo Sport that Quakers were "one of a number of clubs" interested in Gascoigne.

And Quakers chairman George Reynolds this week revealed his hopes of working around wage capping restrictions to bring the 36-year-old to the Reynolds Arena.

Reynolds hopes the arrival of a big-name star like Gazza will help improve the club's deteriorating attendances this season, which culminated in Tuesday night's lowest home crowd in six years, when just 1,578 turned up for the LDV Vans Trophy defeat to Hull City.

Quakers travel to Yeovil Town on Saturday, boosted by the return of Danny Mellanby and Gary Pearson following suspension.

However defender David McGurk serves a one-match ban following his sending off at Mansfield.