Hamburg have made their intentions clear to Southampton and now, the Saints must head straight to one club that can meet their Armel Bella-Kotchap expectations.
The Armel Bella-Kotchap exit talks have spanned across the entire month of July, but still, Southampton have got nothing to show for. And if the Saints strictly go on pleasing the 23-year-old's preferences, they will remain helpless until the next winter window kicks in.
Then, it'll be less than six months on the German's contract and now, the fans are well familiar with how that scenario plays out. Fine, Bella-Kotchap hasn't done anything worthy to demand a retention push like Kyle Walker-Peters, but letting a transfer fee slip away will be shambolic for Southampton.
And the root cause of the worry is the Hamburger Morgenpost suggests Bundesliga side Hamburg aren't keen to splash away the quoted €10m on the out of form defender.
Florian Plettenberg's words can be crucial for Saints if implemented
So, the Hamburg escape route has gone wrong but there's another which Southampton were told to explore that can deliver them better results. The Udinese one, where Florian Plettenberg went as far as indicating they can outbid other suitors.
Yes, they aren't an excessively spending club, but Udinese have got the financial muscle through player trading, which is exactly what the Saints desire.
Even recently, they pocketed a hefty sum on another prized asset, Lorenzo Lucca, with Fabrizio Romano adding: "Lorenzo Lucca arrives in Roma to undergo medical and sign his contract as new Napoli player. €9m loan fee, €26m obligation to buy, €5m add-ons package to Udinese."
Clearly, they are more than capable to purchase Bella-Kotchap outright and hence, Southampton must give their transfer attention to them. Further, those initial discussions must be started as soon as possible, as once Udinese sign other candidates for the centre-back role then they will also adopt a budget friendly stance which Hamburg are upto.