Blackpool will reject Reading's £6.6 million bid for Tom Ince prompting Brian McDermott to step up his efforts to sign David Bentley, the Daily Mail understands.
Speculation over Ince's future has ramped up significantly this month with his former club Liverpool tailing him for much of January and having a £4.75m turned down by the Tangerines.
The managerless Championship play-off hopefuls must pay a 35 per cent sell-on-fee to the Reds in the event of any transfer and are demanding £7m to release the England under-21 international before the transfer window closes.
A formal offer from the Royals, including add-ons, was received at the weekend for the winger but that has been rebuffed and the 20-year-old now looks set to remain at Bloomfield Road until the summer.
His failure to land Ince will force Reading boss McDermott to switch his attentions to former Blackburn and Tottenham wideman Bentley, currently plying his trade in Russia with FC Rostov.
The 28-year-old has seen his career take a massive dive since joining Spurs for £17million in 2008 and was farmed out on loan to the Russian Premier League side last September.
McDermott is willing to give Bentley the opportunity to resurrect his Premier League career at the Madjeski Stadium but is also lining up Arsenal's out of favour attacker Andrei Arshavin as another alternative.