Cardiff City are hurtling towards a hectic final few days of the transfer window.
Manager Steve Morison always predicted that things would come to a head towards the back end of the month and that certainly seems to be the case.
There are two major plot lines we are expecting to play out over the coming days. Firstly, the potential comeback of Ryan Giles from Wolves.
Secondly, and perhaps the more complicated one, is the striker situation.
Here, we take a look at how things currently stand.
The Uche Ikpeazu interest
Cardiff's interest in Middlesbrough striker Uche Ikpeazu is genuine. They contacted the club on Wednesday to sound them out over a potential loan deal, with Boro boss Chris Wilder having stated the player is surplus to requirements.
They have brought in Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun from Brighton and Arsenal respectively and need Ikpeazu out the door before Monday's deadline.
Millwall, West Brom and Hull City have also registered an interest in the player.
The crucial point is that Cardiff only want the player if he can join on loan. Boro's preference is to sell him, so we understand, and want to recoup all of the £750,000 they spent on him from Wycombe Wanderers in the summer.
The Bluebirds were interested in signing him back in the summer. However, Mick McCarthy made the call to opt for James Collins, then of Luton Town, a player he knew well from his time with the Republic of Ireland.
At time of writing, Boro are holding out for a buyer, rather than a place to loan Ikpeazu. But they need him out the door before Monday's deadline and if a Cardiff loan is the most viable option he may well head to south Wales.
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What it means for Kieffer Moore
As things stand, there has been no formal offer tabled for the Wales striker.
That is not to say the club aren't braced for something in the coming days. Any striker who is coming off the back of a 20-goal season and positive Wales performances is bound to attract interest.
However, he has not been quite at the races, so to speak, this season. But given his physicality and proven scoring record in this division, he is always going to be someone who clubs look at in transfer windows.
Importantly, the Ikpeazu pursuit is not contingent on Moore leaving. The club believe they need another experienced option through the door before the window shuts. They see Ikpeazu as potential competition, rather than a replacement.
If concrete interest did materialise and Moore left, one suspects that means Cardiff would want another in to compensate.
The Moore situation is a precarious one at the minute, though, and appears to be a cloud just hanging over the club and will continue to be for the coming days.
What has Chris Wilder said?
Boro boss Wilder has made no secret of the fact that Ikpeazu does not fit his system at Boro and is free to leave the club this month.
On January 14, Wilder said: “I’ve always said there will be outs as well and there are certain players that have been made available.
“Big Uche has been made available for loan or permanent transfer.
“His personality is fabulous and I think for other styles and systems he would be better suited. But the way we want to play, I’ve been open and honest with him, his game-time is going to be very minimal.
“So in terms of balancing the books we’ve made him available."
While Cardiff are trying to progress their style of football, they won't be able to get the players in to do that in earnest until the summer.
They still need to utilise their set-piece threat if they are to climb themselves out of the relegation fight and Ikpeazu, it is thought, will offer a much-needed presence.
What has Scott Parker said?
Bournemouth boss Scott Parker is yet to address reported interest in Moore, but has said he is "confident" he will get some deals over the line before the deadline.
“I’m pretty confident. I’m hoping. We’re trying to do some things," he said last week.
“In saying that, it is a difficult window. It’s really tough, we’ve found that.”
A few days later, he added: “I think we need some help. Look, we are a very young squad and we have done incredibly well to put ourselves in the position we are in.
“But I think it’s fair to say there’s elements in certain positions where we just need a little bit of help, quality and hopefully this next week or so we will be able to do that.”
On adding strikers specifically, Parker added: "Obviously there is a big responsibility on Dom [Solanke]. You look at the goals and where they’ve come from in our team, we’re heavily dependent on certain players.
"I think that’s very obvious. I think that’s down to us and we’re trying our hardest to try and support that, trying to give us a little bit more depth that we can change things in certain moments, or in certain aspects of
"We’re just a little bit short on that. In terms of injuries, of course that’s had a little bit of an affect on that, but definitely in this window now, hopefully we can try and address that with personnel as well."
Steve Morison's latest Kieffer comments
The latest we heard from Steve Morison on Kieffer Moore was on January 13.
"Ultimately, every window it is a conversation," Morison said a fortnight ago. "It’s just something that’s made up in the press, because until someone gives us an actual phone call, it feels like a bit of a pointless conversation.
"We keep having the same conversation and nothing ever changes. As far as I’m concerned, Kieffer hasn’t knocked on my door or an agent hasn’t phoned me up, or the board.
"Chris Wood signs for Newcastle and everyone will be telling me he is going to Burnley tomorrow.
"Someone puts it on social media and it causes an unnecessary storm."
No doubt he will be asked the question again on Friday, when he speaks ahead of the Nottingham Forest game.
Warnock's Sean Morrison comments
When Neil Warnock signed Uche Ikpeazu from Wycombe in the summer, he revealed he had spoken to Cardiff skipper Sean Morrison about it.
Back in July, Warnock revealed on BBC Tees: “He had good offers from elsewhere as well I believe, but he said he’d followed my career at Cardiff and others and he knew Middlesbrough, so he always wanted to come here.
“I talk to a lot of people all over our league - people like Sean Morrison, for example.
“I asked him about strikers when I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and Uche had put him on the deck and done his knee the first game against him, then he did his shoulder or his elbow second game.
“He didn’t know I was going to sign him, but he was saying ‘flaming heck, I wish we’d got him. He put me on the deck three times’.
“I thought, ‘he’ll do for me’.”
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