Dundee United have failed in an audacious bid to bring Bilel Mohsni back to Tannadice.
The Tunisian international joined the Tangerines in March but left two months later at the end of his short-team contract.
That dashed the hopes of manager Csaba Laszlo, who wanted to keep the central defender for this campaign.
Laszlo didn’t give up, though, and contacted Mohsni recently to ask again.
The initial response from the former Rangers man was positive and he was expected to arrive in Scotland this week.
However, United were thwarted at the last minute when an offer of a deal in Turkey saw Mohsni change his flight plans.
Laszlo confirmed: “We have to clarify that we were close to Bilel Mohsni coming back to us.
“He was in the frame for us.
“This was our target – to bring him back to Tannadice.
“He was also very pleased about the prospect but at the last moment he got an offer from the Turkish Premier League.
“Unfortunately, he decided to go to Turkey and sign a contract there so I am disappointed.”
Despite missing out on a Mohsni comeback, the United gaffer is continuing to search for new talent and conceded that Algerian centre-half Rachid Bouhenna is a possibility.
He said: “I have maybe two or three targets on my mind.
“This player (Rachid Bouhenna) was linked with Dundee United directly and if it will be this player from Algeria or somebody else we will have to talk about that.
“If we bring them in or not depends on circumstances. We have a plan and we don’t want to have too many players here.
“We have some clubs asking for our players and we have to be prepared so that if someone moves out we have to replace him.”
While the Mohsni development was disappointing, there was an extremely positive revelation from Laszlo on the injury front.
He said: “The good news is that our captain Fraser Fyvie will next week be fully integrated into training.”
However, they look likely to be without midfielder Sam Stanton for their match against Partick Thistle on Saturday.
Laszlo said: We are missing Sam, who has a hernia problem. He could be out and we will have to see what happens there.”
There was better news over frontman Craig Curran and defender Stewart Murdoch, both trained and should be available to face the Jags.
