"The 27-year-old striker has become the club’s second most expensive signing of all time" Just laugh. Laugh away the tears.
Ronald Koeman: "Shane is a very good player. As a striker, he’s different to Graziano Pellè, which is something we needed." "He brings ambition and a great mentality – he’s always running and always working, and he’s very down-to-earth. He’s a great person, and we need that type of player." "He brings a lot of experience to our squad because he’s already played at Premier League level for a few years. He knows what we need at this level, and he can show that to our younger players as well." "Shane will be an important player for us and our future."
Shane Long: "I’m delighted. This came out of the blue for me but, once I’d come and had a look at the training facilities and met the manager, it seemed like the right decision for me and my family." "It was a hard decision for me to make, but when you come down to Southampton you see how big a club it is and how well set up it is." "You look at how well they did last season and they are developing a new squad for this year to try and achieve those accomplishments again, and hopefully I can be a big part of that." "Southampton play a brand of football that’s enjoyable to watch, and I’m sure it’ll be enjoyable to play in as well. I think the formation they play will suit me, and the manager has a lot of knowledge about football and I’m looking to learn off him." "In theory it’s a very good move for me, but all the hard work starts tomorrow when I get on the training pitch because I have to prove my worth."
Congrats lads, you've signed a very hardworking player. While I think you've paid double what he's worth, maybe three times the amount. Alas, he'll run all day and cause defenders loads of problems. I wish him well and you well with your rebuilding
I'm pleased with this as it isn't the worse signing in the world. He'll play this weekend along with pelle and tadic up front I take it.
I'll only be gutted if Welbeck goes to Hull for £14m. Still don't quite understand £12m for someone nearly 28, but hey ho let's see how it goes !
So Koeman confirming that the reasoning behind this signing is the one that some of the more logical posters have been saying. Good. Guys, at some point we need to accept that we're currently, and after this summer, a pretty average club, and as a result we're signing pretty average players, in order to stabilise for a pretty average season (see 14th place or so for details). They may not be the quality we'd like, or even the quality we've let go - I'd guess that Koeman would like better too - but for the moment we need to stabilise, get established under RKs way of doing things, get him used to how the PL works and what the challenges are, then grow from a solid base (and from next summer really). First we need to get the solid base though, and we're not attractive enough right now to bring in people much better than Long. That will hopefully come in time, but for now, let's get behind the lad.
I thoiught he came across well in his statement. Does'nt seem as much of a t'pot as some 'ballers, and RK seems to think he's a decent enough bloke, so hopefully he'll fit in. Going tried and tested in a year of change is no bad thing
In context we paid a lot of money 5 years ago for lambert as it was unknown for a L1 side to purchase someone for a million pounds. Fast forward five years, different player but same age but with the current transfer climate of over paying for players I'm happy. We never know, he could turn out give us 5 great years or be ****e like delap.
