It appears in several of todays gossip columns that we are interested in Shane Long of Reading,the sum of 6/9mil is being mentioned with a percentage moving on fee,for us a tidy sum of money,is it possible that a buy costing this amount means one of our g/s forwards is on the move.
This could be a potentially good signing though as you say it must mean that someone else is on their way out. A few weeks back I would have wanted AJ to go but his recent europa performances are making me reconsider that thought. Haven't seen too much of Long so could anyone who knows anything about Reading or Long himself enlighten me as to whether he is more of a target man or more someone who plays on the shoulder of the last man. However, any deal for Long should be only second as a priority after resolving the RB conundrum before villa on saturday.
I've also seen this Roscafre. And I've also seen that Sven is now interested in AJ for the Ex-Fulham team otherwise known as Leicester. I've never seen Long play. What sort of forward is he? Is he Prem standard?
He played two seasons for Reading in the Premier League, making 50 appearances in that time. His goalscoring stats for that time are poor (3 or 4 per season), but his goalscoring in the championship wasn't much better until last season when he got 23. He's only 24, and it seems that he is someone who has made a big step forward in the last year or so, rather than someone who couldn't cut it in the Premier League and found his level in the Championship. I couldn't really tell you what kind of forward he is. Wikipedia says he's 5'11''. I'd be cautiously optimistic if we signed him. As for AJ's cracking form so far, I think I'd still take a decent offer for him if one came in. He's playing great and scoring goals, but only - so far - against weaker opposition than he'll face for us in the league. I'd love him to prove me wrong by staying and scoring a sackful in the Premier League, but I suspect that if he does stay, we'd just see more good performances without the goals to cap them off. Given a straight choice of Long or AJ, I'd give Long a punt. Of course, if we could also stick in a cheeky bid for Danny Ings...
I'm not keen. If we got £6-9m for AJ and spent it on Long, I wouldn't mind but we're not going to get much more than £4m for AJ. I can just recall other forwards like Marlon King and Michael Chopra being amazing in the Championship, then being signed for big money to PL side and flopping. I don't think we can afford to spunk ~£9m on a forward who's done nothing to say he can cut it in the PL.
Its a tricky one. I agree with the Captain's assessment of AJ. He's played well in the last few EL games but if we're hoping he's going to be our goal scoring saviour this season we'll be disappointed. Long must have been very young when he played in the Prem with Reading and I can see that he and his game will now have matured and he could turn out to be an outstanding forward. But the emphasis is on "could" and as Bidley says the figures don't stack up. Even if we pay £6m for Long (the lowest estimate) and sell AJ for £4m we are £2m down and potentially no better off in terms of goals.
Seems a lot for someone not proven in the premier. The supposition is that if we're paying that much one of the current top two must be on the move, and that it is AJ. What little I know of him, Long is very like Bobby and I cant see us payong £9m for cover (albeit his wages will be low). So is it Bobby? Surely not. And so to my usual rant. I have nothing against AJ as such. He has been extremely energetic, as always, and yes has 3 goals so far but he is not a prolific scorer. Indeed I'd go as far as to suggest he can't shoot. I'd repeat the awful fact that we have had only 8 non scoring atempts on target in the last 4 games. I know Bobby has played (most) of that time but with AJ he's too deep and/or too wide on the right. We stuggled for goals 2 years ago when the pair of them played together virtually all season. Since then Bobby, on his own, has more than proven himself. A final example, the one game Bobby played on his own after returning from the leg break was against B'pool. AJ may see it a step down but Leicester or West Ham will pay his wage demands and he'll do fine in the Championship. I hope so anyway or it could be an awfully frustrating season.
I'm not a big fan of Long. I watched him study under Dave Kitson at Reading, but don't remember any "ah ha" moments where I thought this kid's has special talent. He's a decent professional, but he's made his mark in the Championship. What role would he play for us? The speedster running the gaps? I don't think he's that player. Neither is he big enough to play Zamora's role. Other than the fact that he's 24, what's he got to offer Fulham?
He's Irish and sounds like he should be a member of Westlife. Maybe the chairman could put up another statue to open up another revenue stream.
Haha, I'm trying to imagine the Shane Long merchandise in the club shop next to the Michael Jackson souvenirs. I'd certainly be more interested in the former for sure!
Just throwing this one out there, i've played against Shane Long before as a 16ish year old, centre-half for St.Michaels F.C in Tipperary in Ireland. Nothing stood out about him then but obviously shouldn't have been played at centre back. I've followed him closely for the last few years and he just seems to be going from strength to strength. His appearances in the Premiership with Reading were pretty much all as a late substitute so I wouldn't read too much into his record back then. He's definitely more of an AJ type player than Zamora, running the channels, getting in behind the defence and chasing everything down. He's very quick and fairly strong but at close to 10 million it's a very big gamble. If we could get him on a loan with option to buy I think it would be well worth a punt.
Every player who's for sale has a selling point. If we, for instance, were going to sell Brede Hangeland, a team would buy him because he's a consistent, healthy professional who's tall, good with his feet and keeps a calm head. If you were selling Drogba, the selling point would be his power and control -- he's a proven goal scorer. But what's the selling point for Shane Long? Is is that he's young and has potential? He is young, but I just don't see the potential to warrant that amount of money. If Fulham are looking for youth and potential, Max Gradel's a better bet in my book.
23 goals in 45 Championship matches last season sounds like a selling point to me! I like the idea of Gradel, but I gather that he is more of a winger, whereas Long is an out-an-out striker. If he is, as FulhamIreland says, more an AJ than a Zamora, and if he can translate his Championship goalscoring to the Premier League, he could be just what we need. I know there are two big ifs in the previous sentence, but there's an element of a gamble in any transfer deal. Bobby's ideal partner is someone who won't compete with Bobby for space or make conflicting runs that force him out wide, and who will take a serious share of the goalscoring burden. Many people have criticised AJ for pushing Bobby out wide, and I have doubts that either AJ or Dembele are going to be significant goalscorers for us. I haven't seen enough of Long to be sure, but it seems to me that he's got a decent chance of being just what we want.
Before splashing big money on a player who has not proved himself in the premiership, it may be worth giving an extended run to Kasami,what limited time he has been on the pitch, his assets look good,speed, strength,and a fair powerful shot. PRIORITY decent right back.
Captain, There's a long list of prolific Championship scorers who couldn't cut it in the EPL. Six of Long's 21 were from penalties. Heck, if Championship scoring is what we're after, we should pick up Heidar Helguson. He scored 13 in 29 games last season Hummmm, Helguson? Where have I heard that name before?
Fair point, but there is also a long list of players who were written off as being prolific in the lower divisions but not good enough for the Premier League. Bobby Zamora certainly had that accusation thrown at him long before (and since) he came to us. It's a fact of life that some lower division players make the step up and others don't. Looking at Long's age suggests that the learning curve is in his favour, which couldn't be said for Helguson. Some of the prices quoted for Long are, I agree, a bit steep, but if the finances can be made to work for all concerned he's the type of player we should be taking a chance on.
I agree that Kasami needs a real chance - I think he has good control from what we've seen too. Maybe we're looking at a new formation? 4-2-3-1 with say Dempsey, Kasami and Duffer ahead of Dicksa and Siddy - BZ up top with the 3 getting up alongside. @Cap'n I believe Kasami is like Deuce - a very attacking midfielder/second striker
If that's the case, then I'd be very excited to see what he can do as second striker. But we need a goalscorer to support Bobby, and unless Kasami proves otherwise it looks like none of our current senior players are ready to fill that role.
Brilliant, Tosh - the perfect team. You've stolen my thunder. I was going to post later in the week, "my starting line up for the Villa game" and not only would it have been this formation but also the same players. I forgive you though - and again can only endorse your selection as SPOT ON
