Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has admitted defeat in his hope of signing Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia.
It has been a quiet transfer summer for the Blues, with the signings of Ben Foster and Nikola Zigic straight swaps for last season's loan stars Joe Hart and Christian Benitez.
McLeish wanted to sign N'Zogbia, but was put off by Wigan's fee.
McLeish told Sky Sports News: "That one looks as if it is dead at the moment. I'm not saying totally dead, but it looks like a difficult one, given the asking prices.
"Whether we can go to that level I'm not so sure, so maybe that's for another day.
"We are looking at three or four other situations. We haven't improved the squad, we have just kept it at the same level."
McLeish says that, on a personal level, he is close to signing a new contract, but that he does not feel in any rush as he still has 12 months left on his current deal.
He continued: "I have done a lot for the infrastructure at the club so it stands to reason that I wouldn't want to leave that project. We are still developing.
"The contract talks have probably gone on longer than everybody would have liked. It was my fault in the beginning, but now we have our advisors back this week and we will try to get something sorted. We have some figures and it's about trying to agree to something.
"But, at the end of the day, I still have another year and then my contract runs into rolling anyway so if we don't agree to anything it's not as if I can walk out on the club at the end of the season. I want to be here for a long time."