Birmingham City could complete the signing of Lokomotiv Moscow striker Garry O'Connor by the weekend. The Scotland international is available at £2.5million and talks between the two clubs are at an advanced stage.

"The negotiation of the financial details will continue and everything will be concluded within 48 hours," a Lokomotiv spokesman said.

"Birmingham want a lot of clauses included. They want to arrange the payment to take into account whether or not they stay in the Premiership. We would prefer a deal with no clauses."

Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, is desperate for a forward as Nicklas Bendtner has returned to Arsenal following his loan spell at St Andrew's.

Bruce was unsuccessful with a £3million bid for West Ham United's Marlon Harewood earlier in the week but may be more fortunate in his attempts to sign 24-year-old O'Connor.

Fulham, Everton and Portsmouth have also been linked with the player, who scored 58 goals in 164 appearances for Hibernian before moving to Moscow 15 months ago.

O'Connor has been in good form for Scotland recently, scoring the only goal in their friendly victory over Austria. He was also on target in the 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands.

Bruce currently has three forwards without Premiership experience, Cameron Jerome, DJ Campbell and Rowan Vine, while Mikael Forssell has been dogged by injury problems for the past three years and a doubt remains over his future.