Red Star ‘join’ Petar Ratkov race as Southampton trail Dinamo Moscow on price | OneFootball

Southampton risk missing out on Petar Ratkov as Red Star join the pursuit and Dinamo Moscow push hardest, with price the sticking point.

Sky Sports reports that Red Star joined the chase on Tuesday. Dinamo have already declared interest, leaving Southampton with the weakest hand.

Lazio paid around £11m to Salzburg in January on a deal running to 2030. Transfermarkt now puts him at about £8.5m after fewer than 300 Serie A minutes. The gap needs bridging.

Dinamo were reported at the start of the month to have gone as high as around £13m, above both valuation and Lazio's outlay. Southampton are not paying £13m for a fourth striker.

Southampton banked £26m from Fulham for Shea Charles this month, with another £4m in add-ons to come. Cyle Larin started the season up front, Divin Mubama arrived on loan on 11 August, and Cameron Archer remains on the books. Spending on another forward would be quite a call.

Red Star will not outspend Moscow either, but they offer home, Europa League qualifying and regular football. Those factors do not show up on an invoice.

A cut-price move only lands if the other two walk away first, and neither looks likely to do that soon.

Source: Sainstmarching.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”