An obviously exasperated Rupert Lowe made the following statement: "I have discussed the above situation with 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.
"We requested that the player should return to the club on July 9 with his colleague Kleber Chala for us to carry out a full medical with specific emphasis on his damaged knee before training for the pre-season.
"We wrote to the Ecuador Football Federation to advise them of the date so they could comply with their undertaking to ensure that the player returned to us on time and sent an aeroplane ticket to Ecuador for this purpose.
"Agustin Delgado has unilaterally decided to return to Southampton in early August despite our repeated and clear communications requesting his immediate return.
"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.
"We have decided to place Agustin Delgado on the transfer list on the basis that we are not prepared to tolerate his unprofessional approach. If a club comes forward with an appropriate transfer fee he will be allowed to move.
"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. In short to win the respect of the board, the manager and our supporters but most importantly the other players who make up our squad.
"FIFA, the Football Association and the player's agent are actively involved in helping us to resolve this issue."
There you have it. Straight from the top. Saints will probably be willing to accept some loss on the player, if only to move him on. The problem will be finding a club willing enough to want such a liability in today's financial climate.
It would seem more likely that Delgado will spend next season in the reserves. Other players such as Ormerod and Davies, who actually bothered to turn up for pre season training must be given priority over the elusive Ecuadorian. He will have to make himself absolutely invaluable to the club in order to make the team.
I dread to think if Ecuador have any internationals lined up for next season. If they do, I'd just refuse to let the player depart. We might not be able to play him but at least we would know where he was.
Delgado's brother released the following statement: "At this point he is 90 per cent recovered from the injury and on August 4 he will go back to Southampton and everything will be resolved.
"They knew all we needed was more time before going back there and I'm sorry that Southampton have pushed so much about this issue. But he will go to Southampton at the start of next month and everything will be resolved with football and goals."
We can only hope. Rupert Lowe has said that the door isn't closed on Agustin yet. The Saints chairman said: "Delgado is on the transfer list but on the balance of probability he is unlikely to attract any interest between now and August 4 when he promises he will be back.
''Really it is up to him. If he knuckles down and shows us that he intends to give us 100 per cent then we will be happy.''