Wheeling And Dealing Needed In Josh King For Shane Long Swap Move Monday, 1st Feb 2021 12:08 Southampton & Bournemouth will have to do a lot of negotiation if the proposed swap deal that will see Shane Long join the Cherries with Josh King moving to Saints is to happen, the sticking point will be the players themselves. It seems that both Saints & Bournemouth are keen to get the deal done, it would see Shane Long move across the New Forest on a loan deal with an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season when he becomes a free agent. Josh King is also out of contract at the end of the season and the Cherries are keen to get his £45k a week wages off the books sooner than later especially since the player himself could also get a lucrative bonus if he sees out the end of his contract till July 1st. All very confusing and not very straight forward. But the real issue is the players themselves, Long is believed to have recently sold his house in the Southampton area and has moved to the Surrey/Berkshire border region, that means that when he leaves St Mary's permanently he will be looking for a club in that area, a commute to Saints and indeed the extra 15 minutes to Bournemouth would be fine for him in the short term but would he want to do it any longer. Josh King is said to be perfectly willing to see out his contract, not just for financial reasons as explained above, but to get the right move, with Danny Ings and Che Adams first choice strikers, would he be happy at being the option off the bench, he may feel the deal is being rushed and that he would be better placed to wait till the end of the season when he can assess the options better and make the right choice. Perhaps the compromise is that both players change clubs, but both do so on loan deals, this would increase Saints wage bill, probably by about £15-20,000 a week until the end of the season, in that they would need to cover King's £45 k a week and probably subsidise more than half of Long's £60k a week while he is at Bournemouth. But that could still be good business, that would mean effectively they would get King on loan for around £260k for the rest of the season. There is still a way to go on this one and much tapping of calculators between the two clubs. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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