Thursday, 14th August, 2014
Southampton have completed the signing of striker Shane Long from Hull City for a fee of around £12m.
The Saints had two bids for Long rejected before offering an amount Hull found impossible to refuse and the Ireland hitman has penned a four-year contract at St. Mary's.
The 27-year-old was only signed by Hull in January, when they paid West Brom £7m to capture his signature.
Now Long is ready for a new adventure in his career, despite admitting the decision to leave Hull was a tough one.
"It was a hard decision for me to make, but when you come down to Southampton you see how big a club it is", he told Southampton's official site.
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"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.
"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 have lost Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Pablo Osvaldo this summer, but have been busy bringing in replacements.
Long joins fellow new signings Fraser Forster, Ryan Bertrand, Dusan Tadic, Saphir Taider and Graziano Pelle at the club.
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