In another summer Shane Long would have been trumpeted as the marque signing of the transfer window, but this year was no normal summer at St Mary's.
With a fee that could rise to £12 million pound at another time Shane Long would have been the big signing, after all it was only a little over two years ago that Saints broke their previous transfer record of £4 million paid for Rory Delap, a record that had stood for over a decade.
But this was no normal summer and Long's arrival was overshadowed by a number of other signings, perhaps because he cost more than them and because he was from the English leagues this led a general perception that Long was overpriced and that we had paid more money than he was worth, an opinion fuelled by the fact that Hull had paid £8 million for him only 7 months earlier.
But perception is often far different from reality and before people question Long's ability they should evaluate his transfer fee against strikers with similar goal scoring records.
A look at Long's goals per game ratio is not conclusive due to the fact that he has often been used as an impact player, at West Brom he started 60 games and came on a sub in 21 and hit 19 goals, therefore about 1 every 4 games, although of course his actual minutes on the pitch would be far less than say a striker who started 75 games and had 6 off the bench.
When he went to Hull he started 14 Premier league games and scored 4 times a ratio of a goal every 3.5 games.
If we put that into perspective his average is about 1 in every 3.75 in the Premier league so we bought a striker that will bag you about 10 league goals a season all things being equal.
That doesnt sound a lot and I have heard many Saints fans ridicule that amount of goals for a striker, but again perception is far different from reality, since the Premier League began the average number of goals needed to get you a place in the top 10 strikers that season has been between 12 & 14, indeed since 1996 in only two seasons have you needed more than 14 goals to be in that top 10 ironically the last two seasons including last when Jay Rodriguez hit 15 ( You remember him, a year ago it was hard to find anyone who thought he was worth a place in the starting line up, perception eh lol)
So a striker who can get into double figures in a season in the Premier league is actually doing his job.
Look at last seasons joint 10th place strikers on 15, Rodriguez is attracting bids of £20 million plus, Lukaku went for £29 million, look at any year and look at how much teams were paying for strikers who got them 13 goals a year.
My point is quite clear, we have not overpaid for Shane Long, we have paid the going rate for a striker with Long's goal scoring ratio, indeed there are plenty with worse ratio's of goals per game who have gone for far more Danny Wellbeck for instance and the money you have to pay for a striker who can hit 15 goals a season is at least double the £12 million we might eventually have to pay for Long.
So why have we signed Long, especially as we have also signed Pelle and Sadio Mane both of whom are in the pecking order, the reason is simple, we want him to do what he did at both West Brom and Hull, we want him to be a player who not only will offer a different option than the other strikers on the books, but is capable of hitting a vein of form and keeping them out of the team if they are not cutting the mustard and competition for places is what keeps players on top of their game and we now have that.
But Long is more than just a goalscorer, he is a work horse and we have already seen evidence of his speed off the mark in the way he has closed down goalkeepers and defenders, what he hasn't had though is a spot of luck, against Newcastle he was unlucky on two occasions, firstly when he closed the keeper down and saw the ball rebound off him the wrong side of the post and secondly when he was smashed to the ground by the keeper and the referee failed to give a penalty.
But on Wednesday night he had that luck and the goal he scored might just be the turning point in his Saints career.
Some Saints fans would do well to remember the ironic cheers Pelle got every time he won a header in the home game against West Brom from some supporters who had already decided after 1 game at Liverpool and 15 minutes against the Baggies that Pelle was not fit to lace the boots of Rickie Lambert and perhaps that should counsel some that judgement should be reserved sometimes.
Now with Sadio Mane struggling with an ankle injury Shane Long is going to get a chance for a run in the side and after his display at Stoke it could be he will take it with both hands, Steve Bruce would have loved to have kept Long, he has publicly said so he knows the worth of having a 10 goal a season striker and he must be worried about Long facing his Hull side tomorrow.
Bruce knows that Long is more than just a goalscorer,he is a hard worker whose pace causes problems and creates chances for others, sometimes this is more apparent than not.
But having Long in the squad is a measure of how far we have come over the summer, in many Premier sides Long would be the main striker, the man they are looking for to hit those 10 goals and be top scorer, indeed two seasons ago our top scorer was Rickie Lambert with 15, take away penalties though and it was around the 10 mark, our second highest league scorer was Jay Rodriguez on 6, now we are looking for at least three players to get into double figures or thereabouts this season including long, we are looking at at least another three to his half a dozen.
But Long isn't the main striker he is there to make it a true squad rather than what we have been used to and that is having a team and having to put in untried youngsters or players that are not really up to the standard, some are struggling to come to terms with the fact that with money to spend not every players has to be bought with the aim he will be first choice, we should rejoice in this, not mumble about paying £12 million for a player who cant always get into the team.
So Shane Long has a vital part to play in this Saints squad, indeed his goal at Stoke was crucial so he has already repaid part of the fee paid for him and Im sure in the coming weeks and months he will repay even more, let's not measue him against Pelle or Sadio Mane, lets put him into perspective against the rest of the league and lets measure him on his contribution to Saints.