Kilmarnock captain Kris Boyd is the shock transfer target of deadly rivals Ayr United.
Ian McCall has admitted the audacious attempt to lure the hitman to Somerset Park.
It comes as Ayr look to replace Lawrence Shankland, who smashed 63 goals in two seasons for the Honest Men.
But McCall, who is also in the hunt for former Partick striker, Kris Doolan, admits his call to Boyd may be a long shot.
He said: "I phoned Boyd as I thought he would be ideal for our young kids.
"Particularly in our play-off games against Inverness, you could see we missed that bit of physical presence up top.
"But the first thing he said was...Colly are you trying to get both of us killed?!"
The move for 35-year-old Boyd comes with Ayr looking to rebuild their squad this summer following a string of departures.
Shankland, Michael Rose and Liam Smith have all left, while Robbie Crawford is wanted by clubs both sides of the Border.
McCall added: "We'll need to do a lot of work and we're losing a big calibre of player.
"In the case of Shankland, he may be the best player I've ever worked with and I'm not sure there are many more like him out there in the market."
