Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce is considering purchasing a new striker to compensate for the abscence of two trusted players including Ghana's Jordan Ayew during the 2017 AFCON in Gabon.
Ayew and Jonathan Kodjia will be away with the Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire national teams in January and early February during the AFCON
Both teams are considered favourites for the AFCON meaning both players are likely to miss about six matches in the English Championship befor the end of the competition.
This coupled with the likely departures of Rudy Gestede and Libor Kozak have left Bruce in a quandary as to whether to dip into the transfer market of rely on the strength of his squad.
Gestede is expected to leave Villa during the transfer window with the club still in talks with Middlesbrough over his sale, while Kozak could also depart if a settlement over the final months of his contract is reached.
It would leave Villa with just Agbonlahor and McCormack as their senior centre forwards, with rookies Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Keinan Davis as back up.
McCormack scored his first goal in three months with the Boxing Day winner against Burton Albion, while Agbonlahor is aiming to end a goal drought dating back to the Premier League victory over Norwich in February.
Bruce is wary of signing fresh firepower just to cover Kodjia and Ayew's brief AFCON absences but would get a new striker if the deal was right.
"It's only four or five weeks," he said. We've got a big squad here.
"That's a big part of what we were wanting from Agbonlahor, for him to step up. Ross McCormack's been chomping at the bit. "Jack Grealish is here and we've got one or two young lads too. You can't just buy a striker because people are away for four weeks.
"We've got to make sure that it's right and if it's something right that can help us then of course in any position we'll try and do it."
On Gestede's potential return to the Premier League with Middlesbrough, Bruce confirmed talks are ongoing. Well there's been an interest from Middlesbrough - that's all it is at the moment," he added.
"I do believe the two clubs are speaking so we'll see what happens. We've got five or six strikers and Rudy's not finding his way through at the moment. If that's a solution, we'll see."