Saints are being reported as having agreed a £12 million pound fee for Hull City Striker Shane Long tonight.

Sky sports and other media outlets are reporting that Saints have had a £12 million pound bid accepted for Hull City's Shane Long, the Republic Of Ireland International only joined Hull in January and scored 4 goals in his 15 league games for the Tigers after arriving from West Brom where he had a similar strike rate of 19 goals in 60(21) appearances for the Baggies.

Long made his name at Reading before West Brom and at 27 is at a stage in his career where his strike rate although not shoddy has not quite propelled him into the higher echelons of strikers, however its good to see Saints getting in a player with Premier League experience as so far in the summer although we have signed players with track records in other countries we are a little short on those who know just what is needed in the Premier.

What is good though is that we are building a squad rather than just a team.

Photo: Action Images

montecristo added 23:18 - Aug 12 hahahaha... this adds up to blind support no way is this man worth 12 million ffs
1

SaintNick added 23:25 - Aug 12 Personally I dont think he is worth £12 million, if we had signed him at £8 I think that would be more realisitc, however if he gets a few goals then he could be worth the punt, certainly we had to get someone in and come the end of the season he might get a few extra points here and there
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BlockRed added 23:35 - Aug 12 Personally, if this transfer happens (fee aside and let's be sensible, it's not our money and Saints are cash rich) I think it's excellent, just what we need. I would also assume that Koeman knows a f**k site more than me/us about the type of player we require. I also have to assume that, after every post I read by 'Montecristo' that he is indeed a bellend x
2

densham41 added 23:36 - Aug 12 Montecristo are you not the guy accused KL of assert stripping ? Well why don't you admire you were wrong? Ok 12m is a lot of money for long,but then 7 million for JRod was a lot o spend on a championship striker, ho has now played for England. Time will tell how good SL will be
2

darthvader added 23:47 - Aug 12 i like shane and was thinking when he went to hull that he would have been a good buy for us and would compliment our foward line . -though 12 mill?? .( but how can we complain about the price when we have sold lala for 25 and shaw for 27 plus add-ons ? . ) when jay is fit again with shane breaking at pace i can see some goals coming . hopefully it goes through ,he will do well for us . coyr

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slynch added 23:48 - Aug 12 I'd love to be proved wrong but I have to agree with Montecristo!! FFS!!! Nearly as weird as £25mill for Lallana.
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TorontoSaint added 00:13 - Aug 13 There is no pleasing some of you folks...give him some time to flop. I know nothing of him other than some recently watched youtube vids but it appears he might have the same potential as JRod so let's hope for that. Seems we over paid but we are loaded and are running out of time....not a bad gamble me thinks.
2

SaintDownUnder added 03:59 - Aug 13 He's not Hernandez is he..... Not sure I get this. Again, I genuinely hope I'm wrong. $12m for cover for Pele seems like a lot of cash.
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pintsizedsaint added 07:12 - Aug 13 Shane Long is also well known for his work rate and ability to press high up the pitch and put pressure on defenders. It appears RK is continuing with the high pressing nature employed by the previous manager (can't bear to say his name). 12 million is around 4 million more than he's worth but it's clear other teams are going to hold out knowing we have cash. What it signals is that they see Shane Long as a really good piece in the jigsaw. Like Nick says, we're building a squad and I like that. And it proves that Montechristo does not have the grace to admit he was wrong about asset striping and the like. Yet he is still unhappy when we spend money! He's either a Pompey fan or has completely no idea what he's on about!

5

MikeCornwall added 07:13 - Aug 13 I just do not get it. 40 years of watching Saints. Rickie Lambert - £4 Million. He wants to go to Liverpool, its his boyhood club - BooHoo. Here's a £5 million pay rise Rick - now go and join Happy Morgan over there on the training field. That's still a £3 Million saving on signing Shane Long. So we give that to Unhappy Morgan.
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bstokesaint added 07:20 - Aug 13 I have to admit this is the first time I nearly agree with something Monte has said. £12m is probably twice as much as Long is worth, but then we are where we are with the season about to start and us desperately short on firepower. That said I do rate the player. He will get you goals and just about every time he has played against us he has been a menace. As you mentioned Nick he should in his prime now and it'd nice to think he might achieve that with us with the right service.

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bstokesaint added 07:22 - Aug 13 It's probably a valid point as well made by other postsers that we got paid twice as much as Lallana is worth so we can afford to take a reasonably expensive punt.
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aceofthebase added 07:38 - Aug 13 Seems a lot for a Billy Sharp replacement.
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NewburySaint added 08:24 - Aug 13 12 Million for Long?? I wouldn't pay half of that for him especially, as Nick states, he will become a squad member, although at 12 mill there is going to be a certain pressure to have to play him all the time injury permitting. I said it about Pelle as i have seen him play outside of Holland and i will say the same again about Long, this man will not get you anymore than 10 League goals this season so if this transfer goes through we will have essentially paid 22 mill for 2 strikers that won't even get you 20 goals between them-for 22 million for 2 strikers i would want close to 30 goals if not more! The sooner Mr Reed is relieved of his Football Directorship role the better as he is slowly taking us back to square 1 and i just hope it doesn't go beyond going back to square 1!!

0

Santos added 08:35 - Aug 13 Do think price is a bit steep but seems like the Mexican does not want to come and long is very similar type of forward. RK obviously thinks this style of player is what is needed and I agree pace has for a while been a dimension we lack. RK like changing formation so options needed. No disguising the fact that the only way the deal is value is Long scoring goals and helping keep us in the prem for a few seasons.

0

SonicBoom added 08:50 - Aug 13 We have sold class and are buying average. That doesn't build a squad Nick. It lowers our quality. It also smacks of panic with the season approaching.
1

REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 08:56 - Aug 13 Shane Long's record in the Premier League: 2006/07 with Reading = 2 goals in 21 2007/08 with Reading = 3 goals in 29 2011/12 with WBA = 8 goals in 32 2012/13 with WBA = 8 goals in 34 2013/14 with WBA = 3 goals in 15 2013/14 with Hull = 4 goals in 15 Rubbish. Overpriced and not that good. For £12m we could sign a much better player from Europe. I get the feeling that no-one wants to come to us. And there was me thinking Koeman would have some better options from Holland in mind.

0

TreeHugger added 09:14 - Aug 13 Im trying to look at the positives in this but i just feel its too much money for the player he is. He has similarities to kevin phillips and if he can hit some decent form im sure he will score goals. Worst case, he is the type of player that will keep you up, he will cause problems and get some important goals. He wont take us into the top 10 on his own but is a good striker to have in your squad. i just feel 12m is a lot for what we are getting. Would i rather AL or 12m plus shane long?? i would rather AL.

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TreeHugger added 09:17 - Aug 13 on the plus, it may be more about the balance of the squad which only RM will know. Its not the worst signing and could prove vital. I will get behind him either way
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landsdownsaint added 09:23 - Aug 13 I remember Lineaker & co saying he wasn't top flight! ... I think our buys have been pot & pointless! I remember saying at the opening of the window I'd like Lescott & Ings but others rubbished them! 12million for Shane Long is absolutely ridiculous and this isn't KL or RK fault.
0

brady100 added 09:40 - Aug 13 If ever a signing highlights our reduced ambition it's this. Not in any way going to provide the quality and goals we desperately need. Hull have made 1.2 million per goal on Long over 6 months. High work rate which would suit our high press but 8 goals a year at best, is that good enough for us? NO. This would be reasonable had we signed him for 4 million as backup, but by all accounts Long is our top striking target. I think we can all agree given the players we have lost and the players who have been brought in we will have to considerably lower our expectations for this coming season. A far cry from last season where we approached all 38 games with belief and confidence. It's back to scrapping this year and being completely out played by the top sides.

1

landsdownsaint added 10:07 - Aug 13 A Sammy Lee signing imo
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cheltenhamsaint added 10:28 - Aug 13 The general gist I am getting from most, if not all, is that you would be happy with Long in the squad providing we paid about £4m for him. That is, you think he'll do a job for us without tearing up trees. Baggies fans I know didn't want him to leave in January and they slipped near to relegation without him. Hull went the other direction with him and Jelavic up front, neither of them prolific in their own right. He clearly made a difference to the fortunes of these two clubs, who are just below us in the current standings. I think he will be a good addition to our squad. We just need to forget about the fee in what is the first transfer window post the huge increase in TV money (very few players are being transferred at what the supporters think the player is "worth")

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Boris1977 added 10:29 - Aug 13 Over inflated price for a competent premiership player but these are the footballing times we live in. Saints have a history of being better than the sum of their parts so hopefully Long comes in and does a decent job once the team clicks. I don't think we can compare the players we sold in terms of those coming in - LS, AL, RL and CC were bought in for a fee of roughly £1 million and have been sold for around £70 million. To replace like for like if possible, would have cost us much more taking into consideration wages. Being a Saints fan has been easy for the past 5 years - now is the test of character for everyone associated with the club. COYR's.

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brady100 added 11:09 - Aug 13 I would add that I don’t think Long signing is a 'gamble'. We know he will be consistent and average at best, scoring 5-8 goals a season and that's if he's a regular.
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