Pelle More Likely To Leave Than Shane Long Monday, 18th Jan 2016 18:53 Although Shane Long has been the subject of speculation this week that Liverpool may be bidding for his services, he isn't the most likely striker to leave either now or in the summer. Jeremy Wilson of the Daily Telegraph is a former Daily Echo journalist and as such has always retained close links to Southampton Football Club from his time down here, so when he writes about the club it is always well written and well informed and you can be sure that he has done his homework. So when he suggests in his latest piece that Graziano Pelle is more likely to leave the club than Shane Long, you can be sure that if not exactly betraying confidences then he will be as close to and know more than most of his colleagues in the national press. Wilson feels that although Pelle will stay in this window its more likely he will will go in the summer after the arrival of Charlie Austin, than Shane Long. Although Pelle is the leading scorer for Saints, Wilson suggests that the club are concerned that he hasn't scored since November and that Austin will be more a direct replacement for Pelle than for Long Ronald Koeman feels that Long offers the team different options than any of the other strikers at the club and therefore to keep that variety it is more likely that it will be Pelle that will make way for Austin in the long term, given that the Italian will turn 31 in the summer and therefore with Austin in the bag Saints may cash in whilst he still has a reasonable value. That is why contract talks for Pelle are on hold for the time being and are likely to stay like that till the summer. But Pelle should not be written off for this season, he still remains a threat and up till November was in excellent form, his failure to score during what is a six game run in the Premier league is just as much to do with the teams failure as a whole to create chances. Saints now have some real firepower going into the final third of the season, it could be an exciting time. However Wilson is at pains to suggest that no one including Pelle will be leaving during January. A well written piece from Jeremy Wilson and certainly the news that Southampton fans want to here, that Saints are in charge of the situation and that they are under no pressure to sell anyone Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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