Chelsea's pursuits of a striker will go down to the wire after their £6million bid for Napoli's Dries Mertens was rejected.
Chelsea retain hope of landing Edinson Cavani from PSG after his move to Atletico Madrid fell through.
Should Chelsea fail it will have implications for Olivier Giroud who has interest from Lazio, Tottenham and Newcastle.
Chelsea could still make one last attempt to sign Mertens before Friday's 11pm transfer deadline.
The 32-year-old is a Napoli stalwart having been at the club since 2013, but now has just six months left on his contract and could leave for free at the end of the season.