Rumours going round today suggest that Hull City striker Shane Long has had a bid accepted within the region of £12m from Southampton. Long only joined Hull in January from West Bromwich Albion for £6m plus add-ons but it seems that Steve Bruce is willing to sell at the right price
Specilation has been fired up on twitter with Adam Blackmore, BBC Radio Solent, contributing to the speculation. He stated that he had received information from Hull City’s end but as it stands nothing from Southampton so at the moment was pure speculation until he received anything official. Jim White has also tweeted stating that a fee has been agreed but as of yet there has yet to be any official announcement from either end.
The deal could hit a stumbling block over personal issues seen as his family was a major factor in the move from WBA. His wages could also be an issue as he is rumoured to be a top earner at Hull. Long is reportedly on 45-thousand-a-week and it would be interesting to see if Southampton would be willing to better that. However, £6m profit on a player that only joined the club 6 months ago is at this point I can imagine Steve Bruce is finding difficult to turn down.
Normally Bruce will only accept deals for players deemed valuable if he has some form of replacement. So expect to see some speculation if the deal does come to fruition before the Premier league kick off on Saturday. Strikers that have already been linked are Connor Wickham, Gary Hooper and Diafro Sahko of Ligue 1 club Metz.
The deal does have a long way to go at the time of writing and from a personal perspective I can see Shane Long rejecting the move on personal grounds to prevent a major move in his family. This was a major saga in the move in January as his wife, Kayleah, responded to fans on twitter around the time.
