Roma have abandoned their attempts to sign Marcos Leonardo from Santos, according to Sky Sport Italia, as he will only become available from January.
The Brazilians had been prepared to sell and the Giallorossi had agreed to meet the asking price of €12m plus €6m in add-ons.
However, with Santos sitting fourth from bottom in their league table, selling other strikers and changing their coach, the club decided it was too risky to lose their star man.
Negotiations had continued and Marcos Leonardo even refused to train with his teammates for several days in a bid to force the move.
However, Sky Sport Italia claim this evening that Roma acknowledge this is doomed to failure and will turn their focus towards other targets.
They could well try again in January and be more successful once the conditions at Santos have settled down, but Roma need a centre-forward now to replace injured Tammy Abraham.