Toulouse Olympique's hopes of strengthening the squad have suffered a setback after being unsuccessful in their attempt to sign Sam Williams.
Rugby League Live understands the newly-promoted French club held talks with the halfback, who had previously played in France for Catalans Dragons.
But the 30-year-old ultimately decided against the move due to personal reasons, quashing Toulouse's hopes of finding a replacement for Johnathon Ford.
The maverick halfback has left Toulouse due to issues surrounding the Covid vaccination. As a result, Toulouse are shopping across the globe for a replacement but have yet to come up with an answer.
With concerns surrounding Mark Kheirallah also prevalent, coach Sylvain Houles was out two pillars of his team for their historic first Super League game, which ended in 42-14 defeat to Huddersfield Giants.
There was hope that Williams would be the man to help their cause. The 30-year-old, who has made over 130 appearances across Super League and NRL, is currently with Canberra Raiders but is thought to have been told he was free to pursue the move.
While there was hope the deal would be concluded, Williams, who also spent a year with Wakefield Trinity, has decided to stay in Australia.
Houles confirmed on Sky Sports after the defeat to the Giants that they currently had no signings in the pipeline.
"It's tough," he said.
"In October you find out you're in Super League and there aren't many players left on the market. We knew what we wanted, obviously, we've got a few issues so we need even more players now, but we're working on it.
"I'm not too sure, there's nothing concrete at the moment so it's a tough one."
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