SaintsExtra carried the update and sourced it to Alfredo Pedullà. Nothing in the wording left room to interpret it kindly. The Lazio forward has once again turned down a potential move to St Mary's.
There is a joke buried in this one, because the striker Lazio bought Ratkov to replace was Valentín Castellanos, who happens to be leading West Ham's line at St Mary's tonight as top scorer for a side that has taken one point from two Championship games.
Why he keeps saying no
Gennaro Gattuso does not fancy him. Lazio's head coach wants a quicker, more mobile forward leading his line, which is an awkward verdict to carry around when The Laziali reports you have yet to score a competitive goal since January.
Awkward for Lazio, too. They are working under a net-zero transfer restriction, so nobody replaces Ratkov until somebody buys him.
So why would a 22-year-old stuck in that mess turn down English football twice in twelve days?
Because he does not want to be a fourth striker anywhere. Dinamo Moscow offered around €15m earlier in the month and got the same answer.
If you were his age and had spent half a season proving nothing, you would want a shirt rather than a squad number.
What Saints actually miss out on
Picture the alternative. Ratkov signs on the 31st August, watches Cyle Larin bury a fourth goal in four games, then spends September sitting next to Cameron Archer, who Preston want on loan.
Lazio paid Salzburg around £11m for him in January, and Transfermarkt now rates him at £8.5m, so somebody was always going to have to swallow that difference. Saints Marching set out the challenges here last week, and nothing has shifted since.
Meanwhile Larin keeps scoring, which is why Tonda Eckert had the luxury of taking him off with twelve minutes left on Saturday. Divin Mubama replaced him and won the Stoke game, and Saints Marching flagged straight afterwards that Mubama could start against West Ham. Ben Brereton Diaz is still at St Mary's. Archer is still there, for now.
The part of the squad that lacks depth sits further back. Shea Charles went to Fulham for £26m plus add-ons, which leaves academy midfielder Cameron Bragg and Caspar Jander, who has not kicked a competitive ball since limping out of a friendly at Eastleigh, as the only cover behind Flynn Downes.
So a Serbian forward saying no in Rome costs Southampton very little, and may even have done the club a favour by closing off a distraction. What the club does with its last seven days is the real question worth asking, and whether anybody at Staplewood is still shopping in the wrong aisle.
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