Brentford remain interested in midfielder Carlos Alcaraz, having tried to land the Argentine before he joined Southampton.
The 20-year-old signed from Racing Club in January, and has five goals and two assists in 30 Saints appearances. Crystal Palace, Brighton and Everton also approached Racing Club in January, but Southampton's £12million bid sealed the deal.
Palace renewed their interest over the summer, along with AC Milan and Benfica, but the played remained with Southampton despite their relegation. The Argentine club negotiated a 15 per cent sell-on clause into his contract and Brentford have tracked his progress in the Championship.
His strong start to the season saw him rewarded on Thursday with his first Argentina call-up at senior level. The 2022 World Cup winners face Paraguay and Peru in World Cup qualifiers on October 13 and October 18 respectively.
Brentford are well stocked for central midfielders, but Alcaraz can also play further up the pitch as an attacking midfielder or false nine. The Bees have fewer options in those positions, particularly with Mikkel Damsgaard, Kevin Schade and Josh Dasilva all injured.
Meanwhile, head coach Thomas Frank is determined to keep Rasmus Hojlund quiet tomorrow, despite admitting he is "happy" his fellow Dane is hitting scoring form for Manchester United
Hojlund struck twice in the 3-2 Champions League defeat by Galatasaray and Frank said: "He's scoring goals. I know he's not playing for Brentford, but I'm Danish and I'm happy that a Danish player is coming through and doing well.
"I must say, it was an impressive performance for him against Galatasaray — two very good goals. He looks like he's in a very good place. But hopefully we can keep him quiet! That's the aim. We need to be aware of not giving him too much space to run into; he's quick and he's good with the timing of his runs."
Frank added: "We need to see the situations early and try to stop the balls into him — that's definitely a key area for us."
Frank said defender Ben Mee is the closest of his injured players to a return, adding: "He has a muscle injury. He's progressing fine and is probably the closest to coming back."
