Delgado on Saints list

Southampton have placed Ecuador striker Agustin Delgado on the transfer list for ‘‘breach of his contractual obligations to the club’’.

Delgado was instructed to return to the south coast on July 9 so the club’s medical team could assess his injured knee prior to pre-season training.

However, Delgado has refused to return from Ecuador until early next month despite being fined two weeks wages for missing the start of pre-season training.

The 27-year-old, who has featured only twice for Southampton since his switch from Necaxa last November, has made repeated trips back to Ecuador due to both injury and homesickness.

Delgado did play in the World Cup, scoring against Mexico, but has defied calls from Southampton to return.

The Saints even enlisted the help of world governing body FIFA in a bid to persuade their £3.2million signing to return to the St Mary’s Stadium, but have so far had little fortune.

And after fining Delgado last week, club chairman Rupert Lowe today decided to place the absent striker on the transfer list.

‘‘We are of the view that this is both unprofessional and clearly in breach of his contractual obligations to the club. We will continue to take the appropriate disciplinary action until such time as our reasonable requests are complied with,’’ he told saintsfc.co.uk.

‘‘We have decided to place Agustin Delgado on the transfer list on the basis that we are not prepared to tolerate his unprofessional approach.

‘‘I have discussed the above situation with (manager) Gordon Strachan at length and we are both agreed that it is important to clarify the current state of play for the benefit of everybody associated with Southampton Football Club.

‘‘We believe we have done everything possible to allow Agustin Delgado to both recover from his knee problem and participate in Ecuador’s first World Cup competition.

‘‘It should, however, not be forgotten that he is a registered Southampton player with a three-year contract to play football for our club and is required to comply with all reasonable requests the club may make when it comes to preparing for the coming season starting on August 17.’’

Strachan has often stated his belief that Delgado can become as accomplished a scorer for Southampton as he was for Ecuador in the World Cup qualifiers, if only he would stick around long enough to find his feet.

And Lowe insisted that, if no club comes in for him, then Delgado will be given all the support he needs to allow his talent to shine once he returns from Ecuador.

‘‘If a club comes forward with an appropriate transfer fee he will be allowed to move,’’ Lowe added.

‘‘If no club comes forward he can rest assured that when he returns all our staff will work to give him the opportunity to display his undoubted footballing talents and thereby make amends for the unsatisfactory current state of play.’’