In November, Reds legend Mark Lawrenson heaped praise on West Brom striker Shane Long, hailing his 'sneaky good' ability, and 'great' work ethic. Liverpool were subsequently linked with a move for Long in December 2012, and with the Reds potentially needing two new strikers this summer, the 24-year old is now back on the club's radar.
According to UK press reports this week, Liverpool Schalke and Hoffenheim are monitoring Long, who could be available for £12m.
A source close to Long suggested that a move could be on the cards, but he only if he gets regular pitch time:
"Shane is more than happy as he gets time on the pitch, but does he want to be at a big club just to have the experience of being there? Or does he want to play every week? He wants the latter.”
In July 2011, Dalglish sent Liverpool scouts to watch Long - who was then at Reading - in a friendly match with Northampton. The striker joined West Brom in a £6.5m (€8m) deal instead, but the Republic of Ireland star seems like the kind of player Dalglish would've targeted (and probably paid £20m for)
During his time at Reading, Long worked with Brendan Rodgers, but he didn't enjoy the experience, as he revealed in an interview last year:
"It was a whole change of football with him in 2009. We all gave it our best shot and it just didn't seem to work for us. It was a big transition in a short period of time...basically, Barcelona-style football...and we couldn't make it work.
"We were virtually in the relegation zone and the club thought it was time for a change. Brian McDermott came in and he's done a terrific job ever since. It was a decision that worked when you look back on it"
Speaking to the BBC in December, Lawro seemed pleased that 'a lot of people are talking about Shane Long at the moment', and stressed that the striker had been a quality player for a long time. He enthused:
"He [Long] has gone under the radar but he is what I call a 'sneaky' good player - he is quicker than he looks, he is good in the area and he will get you a goal. He has a great work ethic, and he's strong and tough too - people bounce off him, no matter who is marking him"
If, as expected, Luis Suarez leaves Anfield this summer, the club will need new strikers, but if Long is brought in as a direct replacement for the Uruguayan, I confidently predict widespread anarchy amongst the Reds fanbase (!)
I doubt that's what Liverpool have in mind, though. Even if Suarez stays, Liverpool need another striker, but £12m is too expensive for what the club would get. There are more prolific strikers out out there for that kind of money, and with respect to Long, he just doesn't score enough goals. Additionally, if Long's priority is regular football, would he get that at Anfield?
Long seems to have admirers in hight places. In a recent interview, Long's former boss at Reading, Brian Mcdermott described the striker as a 'phenomenal' player, and revealed that one of the world's top managers really rates him. He told RTE:
"Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned him the other day and talked about what a top player he was and he knows what he's on about. He might end up at a top-four club, that wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility"
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
According to UK press reports this week, Liverpool Schalke and Hoffenheim are monitoring Long, who could be available for £12m.
A source close to Long suggested that a move could be on the cards, but he only if he gets regular pitch time:
"Shane is more than happy as he gets time on the pitch, but does he want to be at a big club just to have the experience of being there? Or does he want to play every week? He wants the latter.”
In July 2011, Dalglish sent Liverpool scouts to watch Long - who was then at Reading - in a friendly match with Northampton. The striker joined West Brom in a £6.5m (€8m) deal instead, but the Republic of Ireland star seems like the kind of player Dalglish would've targeted (and probably paid £20m for)
During his time at Reading, Long worked with Brendan Rodgers, but he didn't enjoy the experience, as he revealed in an interview last year:
"It was a whole change of football with him in 2009. We all gave it our best shot and it just didn't seem to work for us. It was a big transition in a short period of time...basically, Barcelona-style football...and we couldn't make it work.
"We were virtually in the relegation zone and the club thought it was time for a change. Brian McDermott came in and he's done a terrific job ever since. It was a decision that worked when you look back on it"
Speaking to the BBC in December, Lawro seemed pleased that 'a lot of people are talking about Shane Long at the moment', and stressed that the striker had been a quality player for a long time. He enthused:
"He [Long] has gone under the radar but he is what I call a 'sneaky' good player - he is quicker than he looks, he is good in the area and he will get you a goal. He has a great work ethic, and he's strong and tough too - people bounce off him, no matter who is marking him"
If, as expected, Luis Suarez leaves Anfield this summer, the club will need new strikers, but if Long is brought in as a direct replacement for the Uruguayan, I confidently predict widespread anarchy amongst the Reds fanbase (!)
I doubt that's what Liverpool have in mind, though. Even if Suarez stays, Liverpool need another striker, but £12m is too expensive for what the club would get. There are more prolific strikers out out there for that kind of money, and with respect to Long, he just doesn't score enough goals. Additionally, if Long's priority is regular football, would he get that at Anfield?
Long seems to have admirers in hight places. In a recent interview, Long's former boss at Reading, Brian Mcdermott described the striker as a 'phenomenal' player, and revealed that one of the world's top managers really rates him. He told RTE:
"Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned him the other day and talked about what a top player he was and he knows what he's on about. He might end up at a top-four club, that wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility"
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Queue comment from JC about how this will be our replacement for Suarez, and that the club is sinking ;-P.
ReplyDeleteHe is a pretty good player, but probably back up at best I think, I would have him over Borini.
No thanks, rather go after Gomez and robben who were made available for transfer by bayern.....
ReplyDeleteSuarez for Shane long!!! seriously, its like the equivalent of replacing a meal in a top restaurant for eating at the local cafe. Shane long is 26 and is currently plying his trade at a club that is suited to his current standing, if liverpool do want to be getting top 4 then we need more Suarez type players and less mediocre!!
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteLiverpool have got to start spending 20 mill plus on a few players or games against villa/west ham/southampton will be 6 pointers.
ReplyDeleteyou mite be happy to see our club getting second rate players bought by a second rate manager sanctioned by second rate owners thats fine enjoy the dross and feel smug superfan i,am not also why use my name in your comment are you after i few cheap up marks i will vote your post up for you if it means so much,pathetic really
ReplyDeleteream on were not signing players like them no more were after cheap dross
ReplyDelete20 million will be our budget m8 and your right because were nearer them teams than we are arsenal spurs manure and city ect
ReplyDeleteChill bro, it was a joke. I don't really want to sign him either, I would much rather go for someone like Gomez, but its pretty unlikely.
ReplyDeleteHe would be a better back up option to Borini. But I would rather the money was spent elsewhere.
jaimie were not a top four club anymore were not even top 5,and if fergie rates him so much why dosen,t he buy him i will tell you why because there is about as much chance as him getting astart at man ure as there is me playing for lfc ,lets see how many of the top clubs try to sign him in the summer none,hes second rate for a second rate club something that were fast turning into
ReplyDeletewhy would kenny have paid 20m for him when comolli did the deals people never bring up kenny signed suarez and because he is a liverpool icon he can attract worldclass players lets see who brendan gets armd with 40m(scary) shane long and 2 swansea players
ReplyDeletelol i have just took my vote back;-) the thing is this is the depressing kind of signing that we will end up with players like gomez are just wishful thinking on our point of view infact i do not know why i bother to post when we are linked to the real good players because there all pipedreams
ReplyDeletenotice how Fergie never goes in to sign these top payers he names. I`m sure he just does it to up there price for other clubs.
ReplyDeletelol please no more of his ex players i,am waiting for some reading players to sign who wern,t even good enough for reading
ReplyDeleteget the right manager and unlikey players will come. Seen it before loads.
ReplyDeleteYeah, like Coutinho...why on earth did we sign him
ReplyDeletefergie always talks about other players. he signs 1% of players he signs.
ReplyDeleteLFC - a club in decline with a 3rd rate manager.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that LFC has in abundance is arrogant deluded fans.
coutinho is a good player but he was not big money and the top clubs did not want him for every coutinhos theirs 5 borinins
ReplyDeleteBecause there cheap doesn't mean there bad, look at michu,vorm,coutinho, look at chicrito for united. But we do have money to spend like last summer we spent nearly 47 million, we will have funds to spend.
ReplyDeleteWhen he signed for inter Milan top clubs wanted him, Real Madrid, Barcelona, but at Inter he didn't have a chance to fulfil his talents, at Liverpool he will.
ReplyDeleteSo here we go again with this theory that Comolli made all the bad signings while KD had nothing to do with them at all. KD specifically stated that both he and Comolli made the decisions together or do you just want to ignore that fact? We all love KD but open your eyes and don't be so naive.
ReplyDeleteDo you think it is right that KD said he had nothing to do with the Suarez t-shirts even though he was Manager at the time? If he didn't agree with it, he should have put his foot down as Manager instead of trying to absolve himself of all blame afterwards. As stated above, we all love the guy but he ain't perfect.
You might be right, but if Gomez is a no go, and this guy is rubbish, who do you see as a good choice?
ReplyDeletethat the problem it has to be rubbish which is even more depressing,if i had to go for one young cheap striker i would take a chance on rhodes at blackburn we should have signed him from huddersfield
ReplyDeletefor every good bargain theres a thousand duds we should know we have managed to sign more than our fair share
ReplyDeleteand what about rodgers shouts his mouth off and says the fa,s treatment of suarez but dose nothing about it
ReplyDeleteYes but given time, we have a scouting team which done there research that's why the last two signings have made a impact. When Rodgers first came in he didn't have much time to scout players...
ReplyDeleteYour post doesn't make much sense. Care to clarify?
ReplyDeleteHe has a poor return this year. I am sure we can find a better player with the quoted amount of money being branded.
ReplyDeleteYea he could be a good shout, although he will cost a lot more now. I would really like Leandro Damio, but again, not likely.
ReplyDeleteBollocks to Fergie. If Long is so bloody brillaint, why doesn't he sign him?
ReplyDeleteBecause he's pony, that's why.
Mind games maybe.
ReplyDelete"Charlie Adam's are worth 10 million pounds alone"
ReplyDeleteExcuse me while I bang my head against the wall... starting... now
I wanna see someone write an article about how we can move our club forward! I hear people talk about how they want a team like Dortmund and Bayern but this are the same people who wants to fire every coach who want to rebuild from the ground up. Some hate the other yanks for putting the club in debt but yet are asking FSG(yanks) to spend more money. So when that's the term Be Realistic come in the minds of the so called I know what's best for my club? Please don't get into a Hollywood come back scenario, "when the people we want gets into the right position at LFC everything will be fine" I.E. Benitez and big Sammy. 1 Benitez do not want to be a baby sitter and 2 we all know what happened with the King!
ReplyDeleteimo we should have gone for rhodes when he left huddersfield shame rodgers was not there x manager saying that its a shame he did not manage madrid or barca instead of the dross he has
ReplyDeletecan you ever stop making excuses for rodgers are you is dad or something ,because the only people i would stick up for so blindly no matter what is my kids
ReplyDeletei think its perfectly clear a bit like his management at lfc all talk no results
ReplyDeleteIt isn't a excuse, it's common factor, if your not prepared for something then it isn't going to work, if you done your research then you would succed example Sturridge,coutinho, given time Rodgers is going to build us again, just look at the goals we've scored one touch football stuff, look at Chelsea, carra up,touch down to Suarez from downing,Suarez first time ball to Sturridge. Then bang goal.
ReplyDeleteI seriously laugh at you sometimes if this was daglish you would of kept quiet. You moan like a girl half the time.
ReplyDeleteOne goal? There quiet a few goals, erinque goal against Swansea? Sturridge in corner one two with erinque bang goal;) also there more goals that last year. Also worst i living memory? Don't make things up seriously. Fact is we are doing better than last season.
ReplyDeletethe fact is were not so what we mite get a few more points in the league so what get your head out of rodgers arse
ReplyDeleteFact is we are in the league? KK took us back after spending over 100 million, progress is key, if we do that over time we can get to top 4. Also how it rodgers fault our defenders got bullied this season??
ReplyDeleteWhy would he leave a team on the way up and took 6 points this season, for one on the way down.
ReplyDeletehe has the same defence as last season please do not post me again write a long love letter to rodgers instead i.am sure his ego could do with some massarging everything is kennys fault rodgers is a genius end of theres no need to tell me again
ReplyDeletesorry m8 get your facts right where a second rate club
ReplyDeleteSELL OUT BORINI,CARROLL AND DOWNING
ReplyDeleteFive nil last two games you arrogant twat
ReplyDeleteWe're not deluded, just eternal optimists!
ReplyDeleteWhere have I mentioned Suarez? The article and discussion is about Shane Long. Learn to read and take a moment to comprehend before shooting your mouth.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool's transfer dealings of last summer was a dismal failure. Money was spent on Borini, Allen, Sahin and Assaidi. None of which have really measured up since. Wasn't till this last January can you call the transfer Window business a success. Due to the last summer's waste FSG has made less money available this year
ReplyDeleteIronic how you can call another player a cheat when you have the biggest cheater going in your team. You all still love him!
ReplyDelete