£12m Long ready to ‘prove worth’ at the Saints

Steve Bruce maintains he didn’t want to lose Shane Long but, made an offer they couldn’t refuse — effectively clearing a €6 million profit on a player they bought seven months ago — Hull have shipped him out to Southampton, where a club recently plundered on the high seas of the Premier League is in urgent need of dry-dock repairs as the big kick-off looms.

It all makes for another whirlwind of a transfer window for the Tipperary native, something he alluded to yesterday when he said the move had come “out of the blue”.

“In theory, it’s a very good move for me,” he said, “but all the hard work starts tomorrow when I get on the training pitch because I have to prove my worth.”