Mitch Clark has seen a loan move to Toulouse Olympique collapse at the 11th hour.
Rugby League Live can reveal the Wigan Warriors forward was set to join the Championship club this week and had tied up plans to make the move a formality.
The deal is understood to have been agreed late last week, only for the Warriors to pull out of the deal at the last moment.
It's unclear what resulted in Wigan's U-turn, but Clark has been named in the 21-man squad to take on his former club, Castleford, on Thursday.
The 28-year-old has been included in all of Adrian Lam's squads this year but has yet to feature in a single matchday squad.
Lam was asked about the prospect of sending the forward out on loan yesterday and admitted talks were taking place but suggested that he would like to keep him around.
"It's a tricky one for us because we've got six injuries at the moment and for us at the club we've still got Amir Bourouh out on loan, Aiden (Roden) at Whitehaven, Brad O'Neill at Widnes, we're now talking about Mitch Clark, but we're going to need Mitch Clark."
Before the season started, Clark's agent, Craig Harrison, outlined his ambitions to break into the Warriors side but said a loan move would be likely if that didn't happen.
"At the moment, Mitch will get his head down and play at Wigan," Harrison told Rugby League Live last month.
"There was an option for Mitch to go on loan but it fell through. He wants to play first-team football, Wigan have been great and they've been transparent with where they see him.
"He's at the age where he needs to play, he's not a bloke who wants to sit and be a squad player and never get an opportunity.
"I can see once the season starts, if he doesn't push into that Wigan 17, that there could be some conversations."
The news is a blow for Toulouse, who are still looking to replace Ben Evans following his move back to the UK in order to sign for Bradford Bulls.
They face Halifax Panthers this Sunday.
