Saints striker Shane Long has been linked with a loan move to Aston Villa but Saints are unlikely to let him move on, at least in this transfer window.
Some Saints fans have never truly appreciated Shane Long, they look purely at his goals per game ratio and fail to acknowledge the great contribution he has made in over 4 years at St Mary's.
In Hollywood terms he is a supporting actor and never the star, but i is not always the top of the bill who makes a great movie.
Perhaps Long's greatest game for the club was ironically against Aston Villa in his first season, the game is remembered for the Premier League's fastest hat trick and Sadio Mane took top billing, but it was Long who was the architect setting up Mane and scoring two goals of his own including a long range effort that was the goal of the game.
In 2015/16 again it was Mane and Pelle who took the plaudits, scoring 11 goals apiece in the Premier League, but Long was only 1 behind and he played less games than either meaning that in terms of goals per game his was the better ratio.
That has been the story of Shane Long's time at St Mary's though, too many people look at goals scored rather than overall contribution which often is not documented, Long's phenomenal work rate means that he often creates a move 3 or 4 passes before a goal is scored by winning the ball or closing down a defender.
But some supporters cannot see past goal scoring and that is why they are up in arms about Josh Sims being allowed to go on loan but would sneer at Shane Long and say good riddance if he does join Aston Villa and that is just plain short sighted and unfair given his service to the club, Sims is an undoubted talent, no one can deny that, but he is far from the finished article and managers and coaches look beyond the odd good run in a game for an indication of a players contribution and more at what is contributed overall.
That is why Shane Long is still at St Mary's and Josh Sims needs to continue his education elsewhere hopefully for a short while to give him that edginess and confidence that only playing regularly can give him.
Long did not even make the bench against Burnley, but he was back on at Everton and his introduction just before the hour mark and shortly after Danny Ings had brought us back into the game gave us an urgency and tempo that we had lacked for virtually that entire opening hour.
That is why Mark Hughes does not want to let him go at least not yet, he needs the options that Shane Long gives him, on paper he has strikers, but each have their downsides, Ings has to be judged on his own merits at Saints after being out so long at Liverpool injured, but Charlie Austin has spent more time injured here than fit and although he scores goals he is good when on top, not so much when workrate is needed such as up at Goodison on Saturday.
Manolo Gabbiadini is an undoubted talent, but he is yet to capitalise on the early promise, some of that was due to the way that Saints played under Pelligrino, but not all .
So with each of his main strikers having question mark over them, it is left for Hughes to have a proven fall back option and that is Long as he was for both Puel and Pellegrino when he was asked to come into struggling sides and put in a shift, often with no other options available.
Shane Long could be vital to Mark Hughes in the coming months as he looks to up the tempo in games, Josh Sims will be the future of the club, hopefully sooner than later, yes perhaps Shane Long is the past, but he is also the present and Hughes at this moment in time needs experience to hand.
Shane Long must stay at least for now and when he does go hopefully some will recognise the immense contribution he has made over the past four years, without Sane Long Sadio Mane would perhaps not have become the player he was, sometimes fate takes a hand and the supporting actor makes the film work so the star can take the plaudits