League One Crewe hope to hear whether 20 year old defender Greg Leigh will join the club permanently from Manchester City by Friday.
"Greg is our first choice and we should hear by the end of the week," Crewe boss Steve Davis told BBC Radio Stoke.
"We've not given him a deadline as such but we need to know."
"We've got to do our best to tie down the ones that will improve us," added Davis.
"We should hear by Friday and we need to hear sooner rather than later so we can move on anybody else who can fill that position."