I'm sure we have tried and failed to agree a fee for Ings. Burnley may regret that if they find themselves relegated anyway, with Ings leaving after his contract expires. I have little doubt that we've tried and failed on multiple targets before settling on Long.
Doesn't Reed sanction deals? Reed obviously feels 12m for a not very prolific forward is value for money. Personally has I stated before I don't think it does,when you consider fee,bonus,length of contract, wages=expensive!but has I say it's only my opinion.
I can understand the merit of signing someone like Long as a (expensive) short term fix to ensure we are competitive. He is a workhorse who is quite good in the air, has got pace, is good up front on his own, professional attitude and should slot straight in. Despite what others are saying, there is still a worse case scenario where a new defence leaks goals, Schneiderlin leaves, Tadic and Pelle take time to settle and Rodriguez takes time to get back to fitness. Throw in a couple of injuries and can any of us be absolutely certain we won’t be really struggling at the wrong end? Long gives us a bit of security as someone who we know can give us something we don’t already have and I can certainly see his value in this sense. BUT… I can’t help feel a little disappointed. If the £12m fee is correct we are overpaying for someone who is going to do a job but probably no more. I certainly wouldn’t expect us to get anything near that price back for him - even if he turns out to be a real star. I was hoping we were looking at players like Hernandez or Lens with the fall back of Ings – players who excite me more than Long and who I feel we could add value to. Heyho – I’m expecting a middle of the road season and, short term, Long fits into that –can’t believe he was part of Koeman’s list when he joined though.
Ok it obviously failed.....but 11mill for Ings,or 12mill for Long...who do you would give you a better return? Not an argument just a question,but I feel there is cheaper/better options out there.....maybe
I have to say all this talk of Ings vs Long and Ings seemingly being the preference amongst fans confuses me. Ings had a fantastic season last year and is a Saints fan, however last season was his first good season - prior to that his goals per game ratio was shocking really. Long isn't prolific, but a 1:4 ratio isn't that bad and he gives us much more than just goals - bit of pace, strength (considering he is small), and he's a complete pest to defenders; who will chase everything down. £12m is too much really, but I was disappointed that we didn't go for him when Hull signed him for £7m ish in Jan. Good player who will add something to us, just a bit over the top in terms of price; but as one of my friends was just saying to me that will be partly down to the timing (just days before the start of the season). Think Forster fee was also slightly over, but again another good signing.
So we've paid a bit over. We are still quids in on the summer. The money for Shaw and Chambers was just ludicrous. 12m for a proven PL striker who is at his peak or 16m for a player with less than a season in the PL.
Who was still a very good player (at least, he was at Bournemouth, I don't know what Burnley fans thought)
As I just said Ings only had one good season. Look at this record: Bmouth 10/11 - 7 goals in 26 Bmouth 11/12 - 0 goals in 1 Dorechester 10/11 4 goals in 9 Burnley 11/12 - 3 goals in 15 Burnley 12/13 - 3 goals in 32 Burnley 13/14 - 21 goals in 40
The phrase "Proven PL striker" is among the most inane out there. What does it even mean? He's proven as mediocre, sure, while Chambers has the potential to be a star for years. Chambers' deal was far, far better value than the Long deal will be.
As I say.....Long is very underwhelming, I hope I'm wrong, but for me Ings would only improve with us because he's still very young and still plying his trade. 12mill for a 27year old,who's goal scoring record ain't great is a tad ott.
I agree, someone who's never hit double figures in the Prem is hardly what I would call proven. People can say how he 'brings more than goals' but the point is (in my mind at least), that isn't what we need. After Saturday my concern was where our goals are coming from, I still have that concern: Is Pelle, Long & Tadic gonna get us the goals we need to stay up ?
Whilst I agree with this, short term (i.e. this season and ensuring we keep out of trouble) Long is less of a risk by far ('though admitedly with less potential upside). Long will slot stright in and be up to pace - we can't be sure Ings will straight away. I can undestand why RK feels he needs to make the signing.
