Saracens are unlikely to pursue a deal for South Africa second row Eben Etzebeth, their director of rugby Mark McCall says.
The Premiership and European champions were interested in signing the Stormers forward on a short-term basis once the Springboks' autumn Tests have been played.
But McCall is now looking elsewhere for cover after the sudden retirement of Alistair Hargreaves.
"We've been exploring a couple of options and Etzebeth was one of them, but that looks like it won't happen," he said.
"Signing him would have solved a problem until the end of January, but after that we'd have had to find a different solution.
"It's very hard to find someone who is good enough, who is available to get into this country and who is also out of contract.
"There are some second rows who become available at the end of January so we thought we'd get a double solution, but it doesn't look like it will happen."
McCall also revealed Owen Farrell could make his first appearance of the season at Toulon this weekend.
Farrell has been out with a back injury, but McCall said: "He's much more in contention this week than last week.
"Owen's been all good with his kicking and he's done some tackling as well, so hopefully he'll be available. It's quite a big shout."