You can't transfer a domain that is within 7 days of expiring, so if it hasn't been transferred already, it's too late. The best bet is for the current owner to renew the domain name, and then transfer it.
As was demonstrated with
firstwiki.net, it can be much more expensive to get a domain name back then to register it or renew it.
There is generally a grace period where the original owner can still renew after it is expired.