Aston Villa are growing anxious that a loan move for Manchester United 's Axel Tuanzebe might not be pushed through before the end of the month.
The Villans have an outstanding enquiry with Old Trafford chief Jose Mourinho and are now waiting for a response.
The 20-year-old centre-half is a former winner of the club's young player of the year award and has broken through under the Portuguese and has been training with the Red Devils' first-team squad.
However, Mourinho wants to give the youngster, born in DR Congo, frontline experience and Villa boss Steve Bruce believed they were in with a good shout of landing the powerful defender.
Villa are also waiting to hear back from Leicester City on other requests they have made to take striker Leonardo Ulloa and midfielder Daniel Amartey until the end of this campaign.