River Plate firmly wants to bring Saints attacking target Lucas Cepeda on their books, but letting Cepeda join a Club World Cup participant could turn out to be a long-term advantage for Southampton.
Around ten days ago, Southampton took transfer notice of Lucas Cepeda and without exaggerating, that speculation dampened hopes among the fans. The simple reason being that Cepeda's international strike partner is Ben Brereton Diaz whose Saints arrival has been filled with criticisms for obviously not performing as everyone wanted.
But, merely hailing from South America isn't the worry. Charly Alcaraz has also been a part of one of the weakest Saints squad but he quickly turned away doubts into Premier League confidence.
Instead, it's the recent failing trend in Southampton's forwards that signals that Cepeda can endure a nightmarish tenure while attempting to leave an Alcaraz-ish impression among the fans. So, then the transfer should be off now, but a key factor has come into play that might dictate a different stance from the Southampton camp.
As quoted by Redgol, transfer reporter Renzo Pantich said: "River will go all out for Lucas Cepeda. 22 years old, he's using the foreign quota."
Saints must judge Cepeda by his performances on the biggest stage
So, Club World Cup participants River Plate are also one of Cepeda's admirers and from the report, it can be assumed that they will even plan to speed up the negotiations. Considering they do get hold of the in-demand attacker, Cepeda may get to start games in the showpiece tournament where Southampton should also be keeping an eye on his performances.
But wouldn't it be a regret on the Saints part, provided he takes the Club World Cup by storm? Honestly, it's a winnable scenario for Southampton as they aren't taking a risk early on and can judge him in front of some world-class teams, thereby, making up their mind about whether to shortlist him as a future marquee signing.
Indeed, it's a wonderful buying approach but implementing it well remains the difficult part.