NOTTINGHAM Forest's bid to sign George Boyd fell through at the final hurdle last night.
The attacking midfielder was Alex McLeish's primary target during the January transfer window.
The club are understood to have agreed a financial package with the 27-year-old for a three-and-a-half-year contract.
And he was in Nottingham last night for a medical, as the club looked to complete the move for the player who had previously been on loan.
It was not officially confirmed why the deal collapsed but Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony claimed it was because the player did not have perfect eyesight during his medical and branded it "a total disgrace" after seeing his man return to London Road.
What is certain is that the transfer window seemed likely to end in disappointment for Alex McLeish.
The Reds boss had hoped to add three new faces to his squad before the window shut at 11pm last night.
But he will now have to turn to the loan market, after seeing his primary deal collapse.
Forest's attempt to make further signings was not fruitful, with Wolves knocking back a bid for defender Stephen Ward yesterday morning.
While Birmingham refused to budge on their stance over Chris Burke, who Forest had made two offers for.
And an audacious effort to bring Stoke City winger Michael Kightly to the City Ground also failed to come off.
It will have been a hugely frustrating day for McLeish, who had frequently spoken of the importance of strengthening his squad, if Forest hoped to make a push for the play-offs.
He will now have to rely on loan signings, with the emergency loan window set to open in a week.
There was one piece of positive news at Forest however, with Polish midfielder Radi Majewski putting pen to paper on a three-and-a-half-year contract.
And Dexter Blackstock, who has himself just penned a four-and-a-half-year deal, believes it is important that the club are trying to tie their key players to long-term deals, with Chris Cohen also having committed his future to the club recently.
"Look at the first season we got into the play-offs," said Blackstock. "Lots of the players were tied to long-term deals. People had two or three years.
"That showed in the team spirit, because everyone knew they were going to be here long term.
"When you start off a campaign with a lot of players who are not sure if they are going to be at the club by the end of the season, it can cause you a problem.
"It can't help if you turn out, as a team, on a Saturday and half of the squad don't know if they are going to be at the club in the long term."
