Updated at 16.29
SHANE LONG HAS officially joined Southampton from Hull after completing a reported £12million (€14.9m) move today.
The Ireland striker leaves Hull after only signing for them last January, subsequently scoring four goals in 15 appearances for the Tigers.
Southampton are currently undergoing a rebuilding process, after several stars including Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana left Ronald Koeman’s side during the summer, with others expected to follow Long through the entrance door at St Mary’s before the summer transfer window closes.
Speaking following the news, the striker told the official Saints website:
“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.”
Manager Ronald Koeman added: “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.”
In fairness they did Sh#t the pants
if you can’t defend corners you’re going no where
He’s dead right. They were muck. Celtic in the past mighnt have been technically as good as other teams but they would be up for it on a big European night! No passion tonight. Virgil must have had his bags packed before kick off
They were dreadful. didn’t deserve anything from the game.
Griffiths pulled out on three occassions to contest for the ball in Malmo’s box in the second half. They dont deserve to be anywhere near the Champions League.
Malmo players thought Celtic were too busy thrash talking during the first leg. Might be something in that.
or it might be that they were simply better last night and actually wanted to win the game
celtic just cannot defend.
the sooner we fluck off zonal marking the better.. doesn’t work in schoolboy football and def doesn’t work for celtic! last night was embarrassing as we just didnt have any fight there…
We saw Dundalk push BATE very close this year – that same BATE team would have destroyed Celtic.
Celtic need a strong sevco. Im not a Celtic fan and I detest sevco and their fascist support but the difference is there are three or four clubs in Sweden who regularly give each other a game. The top three or four LOI teams would comfortably hold their own in the SPL
Gives an indication of standards in the SPL.
Ha ja Sverige! Ha ja Malmö!
very dissapointing malmo aren’t even that good like Celtic are gone to shite
Hopefully Aberdeen can break the old firm money monopoly this year, hopefully Celtic dont buy their best players and give the dons half a chance.
Poor team, poorly coached.