The Daily Mirror is reporting that Newcastle and Everton will battle it out to sign Reading striker Shane Long for around £7M.
Shane Long – are Newcastle interested?
But there’s never been much evidence that Newcastle are interested in the 24 year-old Irish International striker, so we wonder how much truth is in this report.
However, it does look like Newcastle’s £7.5M bid for PSG Turkish striker Mevlut Erdinc will not ultimately be successful, and presumably Newcastle will now look to other potential strikers, who are available.
The news is that Reading manager Brian McDermott, a good friend of Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, has alerted both clubs that Shane Long will probably be sold to a Premier League club before the season starts on August 13th.
McDermott said that he would have to reluctantly accept the 24-year-old having to leave Reading if a decent deal could be worked out that was good for both the club and the player.
McDermott said:
“Shane is the best striker in the Championship. He could play for anyone in the Premier League,”
Shane is a goal poacher type of striker, and perhaps could play well alongside big Demba Ba, Newcastle’s new signing, and Shane has 21 caps for Ireland with 6 International goals.
Shane has been at Reading since 2005, and last season scored a good 25 goals in 50 appearances for the Royals, but we’re still not sure if Newcastle are really interested in this player.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
83 comments so far
G
Jul 19, 2011 at 9:08 AM
Comment #81Instead of looking at long, we could do a lot worse than look at that Pavone now that Blackburn have pulled out of the signing. He is out of contract, so give him a couple of games with the kids to see what he can do. Not a prolific goalscorer, but has a phenomenal assist ratio.
Munster Mag
Jul 19, 2011 at 9:38 AM
Comment #82Andy,. Shane Long didnt give Chiellini the runa round at all. In fact he was substituted and was apparently quite frustrated. I like Long, he’s quick, and will work the channels all day. Like a lot of the other Irish guys unlike some of you poms (!) he doesnt have an ego the size of a small country. I’m not sure how good a finisher he is though, and he is not as regarded as the likes of Doyle….
CLOIN
Jul 19, 2011 at 9:42 AM
Comment #83We need a 15+ goalscorer otherwise i dread to think where we might end up at the end of the season.Top notch goalscorers do not come cheap you are not going to find all of your players on frees or out of contract.MA will be taking a big gamble if he is not prepared to sign at least 1 more top striker.We scored the least away goals in the prem last year and that must change.