Southampton are still hopeful of completing a deal to sign Quincy Promes from Spartak Moscow this month, according to reports.
The Saints have been linked with the Netherlands international throughout the January transfer window, but Spartak are understood to be holding out for a £30m fee for the attacker.
Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino confirmed after his side's FA Cup win over Watford on Saturday that the club are interested in Promes, but offered no suggestion that a deal was any closer to being done.
"Quincy Promes is one of the players that we have been following for a few months. The market is too difficult, we wait until the end and keep pushing," he told reporters.
However, Sky Sports News reports that Southampton are still in talks with Spartak over a deal for the 26-year-old, whose contract in Moscow runs until 2021.
Promes, who has scored 53 goals in 101 Russian Premier League appearances since his 2014 move from FC Twente, would likely become Southampton's record signing should he join, surpassing the £18.1m fee they paid for Mario Lemina last summer.
Barney Corkhill
