Everton appear to have reached a stalemate in their talks with Swansea over Gylfi Sigurdsson.
The Toffees were hopeful of tying up a club-record deal for the Icelandic playmaker before this weekend's opener with Stoke.
Swansea are demanding £50million and talks have been ongoing for weeks with Everton eager to pay less than the asking price, reports the Liverpool Echo.
A deal is still yet to be struck and Ronald Koeman issuing a thinly-coded message to the board on Sunday, urging them to complete the 27-year-old's signing.
The Everton manager had said the transfer was "close" but the two clubs remain locked in negotiations.
It has been claimed that the Blues and Swansea are less than £5m apart in their valuations of Sigurdsson while reports this evening say a tentative agreement of £45m was agreed at once stage in negotiations before the picture changed.
Deal insiders remain confident that the transfer will still go ahead and do not see Swansea walking away from a transfer that would represent a club-record windfall for them.
But it appears Everton and their Swans counterparts have reached a stalemate.