St Mirren manager Oran Kearney has revealed a bid for Blackpool full-back Ryan McLaughlin has been unsuccessful.
The Buddies boss thought he had agreed a six-month loan deal for the former Liverpool youngster.
All that was required was for the 24-year-old to drive north to Paisley and sign a contract.
But Kearney's hopes were dashed when Blackpool received a cash bid from another unnamed club south of the border and the Northern Ireland international was ordered to return back to Bloomfield Road to talk terms with Saints' rival suitors.
"That one has been and gone," confirmed Kearney, who is still hoping to add up to four new faces after clearing out 13 of Alan Stubbs' signings already this month.
"We had that sorted yesterday. Ryan was driving up last night, we had all the paperwork done.
"Then Blackpool received a bid for him. They called Ryan as he was approaching Glasgow and asked him to turn the car around.
"So he's driven back down the road again and that one's now history.
"It is frustrating but that's football. Someone once told me you should never get carried away with a signing until the signature is on the paper. That one is probably the closest I've ever come before having it taken away.
"Ryan is gone now as far as I'm concerned so it's on to the next one.
"We've still got a couple of deals pretty much done but where we are in the food chain means we're in the hands of other clubs. The whole thing relies on certain business getting done higher up the chain and when it does, a chain reaction follows and players are allowed to move on."
Kearney was a relieved man on Saturday as his 10-man outfit came from two goals down to beat Alloa in the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth road, but they face a tough test on Wednesday as their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign resumes with a trip to Celtic.
Kearney started his Paisley reign off with a goalless draw against the Hoops back in September but knows his team will need to improve on that display if they are to walk away from Parkhead with a result.
The Saints boss – who has lodged an appeal against the second yellow card Brad Lyons received for diving at the weekend – said: "We'll need to go up a couple of notches from the last time we faced Celtic to get the same kind of performance.
"I think we've got to go there and embrace the challenge. If you go there with your tail between your legs fearing the worst, you'll probably get the worst. It's important we go there with a positive mindset.
"We've appealed Brad's booking. We've looked at the footage and feel it's worth it. We're not trying to undermine the referees but we just feel that there was good upper body contact as well as lower body contact and for us it was a foul."
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