Birmingham City were today homing in on the capture of Curtis Davies from Aston Villa.
And they were near to completing a deal to bring Obafemi Martins back to the Premier League.
Martins is due to fly in on Sunday for a medical and complete the formalities of a loan from Russian side Rubin Kazan.
West Bromwich Albion were also in for the striker, but have now withdrawn from the running.
Blues and Villa have been discussing a swap deal which would see Sebastian Larsson and £1.5 million go to Villa for centre-half Davies. But a straight transfer, for around £3.5 million, seems more likely for Davies to end up at St Andrew's.
Larsson had a transfer request rejected by Blues after much toing and froing over a new contract and Newcastle Uniteds interest. Blues had agreed his sale to Newcastle, then declared he would stay until the summer.
But Villa's keenness meant he was back on the transfer agenda as Blues moved in to hijack Leicester City's attempt to secure Davies on loan with a view to a permanent switch.
Although Martin Jiranek proved a highly capable deputy for Scott Dann in Wednesdays stunning Carling Cup semi-final defeat of West Ham United, he has been unsettled and was only signed on a 12-month contract from Spartak Moscow in the summer.
So Davies would work as an ideal solution for the present and the future, as Alex McLeish safeguards against leaving himself short of defensive options.
Blues appear to have seen off the challenge of Albion and Hamburg for Martins.
Rubin Kazan today announced that Martins was joining Blues on loan for the rest of the season.
Head coach Kurban Berdiyev said he wanted to move back to England for family reasons.
A deal has been agreed in principle, but Blues were not counting any chickens just yet - they want to get Martins into the country to ward off any possible late interest from elsewhere.
Both the Blues and Baggies have been in talks about a loan for the striker, with Blues edging ahead in the last 24 hours.
Albion's Roberto di Matteo has been using Peter Odemwingie to try and persuade his Nigerian compatriot to move to the Hawthorns.
But Blues now seem set to see through a deal, which includes paying a loan fee in the region of £500,000.
Martins moved to Russian side Rubin Kazan from Wolfsburg in the summer.
A £10 million signing by Newcastle from Internazionale in 2006, he scored 39 times in 105 appearances for the Magpies before heading for Germany.
The 26-year-old could neatly be viewed as a kind of Christian Benitez figure and with experience of the Premier League under his belt would need little time to adapt.
McLeish's search for a new striker has taken him down many avenues, and interest in Cardiff City's Jay Bothroyd remains but not at the Bluebirds' £4 million asking price.
Speculation continues to surround the future of one of the Carling Cup heroes, Nikola Zigic, with Racing Santander keen.
