Shane Long
West Ham are stepping up their interest in Southampton’s Shane Long as they bid to develop realistic back up targets should they fail to land Jermain Defoe.
The club are taking the view that Sunderland are unlikely to let the striker leave the Stadium of Light given he is their one hope against relegation.
Long, 29, has fallen down the Southampton pecking order since the arrival of manager Claude Puel and the Hammers see the Republic of Ireland International as the Premier League proven player they need.
Long has not scored in the Premier League since May, after hitting double figures for the first time in his career last season, and is battling for a place in the Southampton team. Jay Rodriguez’s return to form has not helped Long’s chances and he has been used sparingly this campaign.
Head of Recruitment Tony Henry has personally watched Brentford’s Scott Hogan on several occasions but Saints are seen as a selling club whilst Brentford are holding out for £15 million.
ClaretandHugh was told this evening: “Scott has to prove it and may be a gamble at this stage of proceedings. Long’s name is being freely mentioned around the club and has performed well at this level and internationally”
Saints are believed to value the player at round £12 million and he signed a contract last season which now has three years to run.”
I’m not sure if Shane long is really the man to take the club forward. Solid player no doubt, but is this really the move that convinces Dimi we’re aiming, and going to achieve, CL football?
Dembele again is an interesting one. I’m sure we talked about him this time last year given his contract was expiring at the time. Could have snapped him up but went for Emenike instead. I do think he’ll be a good player but £20mil after half a season in the Scottish League is taking it a bit far!
I do hope this article is either poorly worded or a few days/weeks behind the clubs offical stance. I would be very shocked/disappointed (basically angry) if it has taken the hierarchy this long to work out that Sunderland are ‘probably’ not going to let their one hope of prem survival leave so we better consider back up options. It has been pretty obvious we needed to sort out a RB and CF in this window so why not have deals concluded already so we can hit the ground running in the next league game? If we don’t, i can ensure you Big Sam will have his wide players running at Nordveit all game and it would be embarrassing/horrific to lose to that mob. It would also drag us right back into the mire.
Why do we need to convince Payet ?? ,. It’s not as if he is uprooting trees at the moment .
I thought that was the reason he was having a strop in the first place? Wasn’t he told that he was going to be the centre piece of a star studded side that brings CL football to the new stadium? And instead we brought in Tore and Zaza. You only have to watch his goal against Middlesbrough to see he’s different class. I’m not defending his attitude – I think it’s outrageous that somebody being paid 125k a week can give anything less than 100%, but if bringing in a prolific striker that converts the huge number of chances he creates gets him believing again and keeps him here after summer then surely we need to do it?
From what we have seen so far it should be pretty obvious that injuries have hindered us so much that we are now starting to worry about the threat of relegation . Do we really need to sign anybody on a knee-jirk reaction ??
Admittedly Defoe would be a plus but , we are starting to look better and improving as injuries are being curtailed . We should wait untill this season is over ( we won’t get relegated ) and lick our wounds . Make bigger signings in the closed season .
Signing players now will not get us into Europe . Forget it . Survival is the game now , not catch up . Just needs Bilic and the lads to get it right untill game 38 .
Spend money when the dust has settled . Concentrate on Premiership and chance it to hard work . Of course the FA cup is megga and it would be nice to grab some glory .
What Payet may or may not be thinking is not important .
Quality signings now or summer are still quality signings. I’m not saying we should get Dembele, Long or Hogan but we’ve needed a consistently fit, prolific goal scorer for quite a while now and Defoe and Berahino are proven quality that offer something to the club now. Had we gone after Ayew with more effort when he was on a free we could have saved £20m. Had we gone after Dembele last Jan/summer we could have got him for free instead of potentially paying £20m. Had we gone after Batshuyai with a bit more effort last summer we could have got him too. Timing in football is important particularly for us as we can’t compete financially with clubs like Chelski and City
Also, even if the entire squad is fit we don’t have a prolific striker. Why do we want a relegation fight when we could secure safety relatively easily with a decent striker? It is all well and good saying wait until summer and buy someone bigger but that was exactly the strategy last Jan and it didn’t work out too well
I dont think too many fans are worried about relegation Kevin.Actually you are one of only a few i ever see mention it so often.
Shane Long is a solid striker,a good option but not someone you would want as first choice strarter imo.
With regard to Payet,well lets see but i will be more than disappointed if he leaves.For a player who is getting bashed he is still right up there for creating chances,we just needed/need someone who can turn the chances in to goals.
I don’t think there’s a lot of choice out there to be honest. I can’t see us landing Defoe unless he hands in a transfer request. Why would Sunderland let him go? Hogan, surely talented but possibly another Baldock?. Berahino – I don’t want another player with an attitude like his at our club. Dembele would be my first choice but again, it’s Scottish football. I reckon I could get a game up there.
I completely understand the reservations about Berahino’s attitude but his situation is maybe not that dissimilar to Defoe’s when he left – definitely had his head turned by his agent and others (Levy – ****). He would need a firm hand but I think we have the management and team to keep him in check. He’s scored goals at all levels for club and up to u21 for country. I’m convinced he’ll score for us too. Supposedly West Brom offered him a new contract just a few days ago despite everything that’s happened so you know they still rate him as a goal scorer.