Given the seemingly endless list of strikers to have been linked with Nottingham Forest over recent weeks, you would have thought that at least one deal would have been pushed through by now.
It hasn’t.
And neither is there any indication of an agreement being reached any time soon.
The January window, as is often the case, is proving difficult to navigate.
From Dwight Gayle to Glenn Murray via Connor Wickham and just about every other frontman not seeing regular game time at present, the Reds are said to have been in for them all.
Attacking additions have always been the top priority.
That remains the case with the clock ticking down.
MORE FOREST STORIES
As things stand, though, on-loan winger Adama Diakhaby remains the only addition.
Further creativity has been acquired, but no alternative option to put chances away.
Lewis Grabban, with his tally for the season taken to 16 against Reading on Wednesday, continues to be a one-man goal-getting band.
Even he has spoken of a desire to get somebody else in alongside him.
Sabri Lamouchi has pointed out on a regular basis that the Reds board knows what he wants.
Elusive
A frontman remains elusive.
“I don’t have news,” Lamouchi told the Nottingham Post when asked for an update on the striker search after seeing Forest held to a 1-1 draw by the Royals.
“For me, I think it could be on the last day of the window.
“We have played a lot of games in January without new players. We played tonight without new players. We will play next week, probably, without any new players.”
A trip to Brentford will be taken in next Tuesday.
That has become a big game with plenty riding on it.
There is still time in which to get transfer deals over the line before heading to London.
Lamouchi, though, appears pessimistic.
Another late scramble for signatures looks to be on the cards.
There is nothing new there.
Forest will not be the only ones watching the clock on deadline day.
That is just how windows work.
Trend
The hope was that the trend could be bucked this time around, but peace must be made with the fact that it probably won’t be.
There is no serious cause for concern there.
Grabban is still fit and firing, and the fear has always been that the Reds would be left painfully short if he were to be ruled out.
Barring any untimely setback in training, the 32-year-old will face Brentford.
Attention can then be turned back to the pursuit of reinforcements before travelling to Birmingham on February 1.
The makeup of Forest’s squad will have been determined by then.
We will know who is charged with the task of taking a promotion push past the finishing post.
A few more finishers on the books would be nice.
Expecting more than one proven frontman to be acquired may, however, be a little greedy.
With three weeks having delivered no movement, anything would be a positive at this stage.
At least efforts are still being made to tick the right boxes.
It is just a slow process.