According to Footballer Insider, Championship side Sheffield United are plotting a January swoop for Shane Long. 

Now this is a deal that would immediately tempt some Southampton fans, as, after all, the Ireland international is a chronically poor goalscorer for a striker in the Premier League.

In 131 Premier League appearances for The Saints, Long has only managed to score 20 goals at 0.15 goals per game. That may be indicative of why Southampton are doing so badly this season, and last season for that matter.

Compared to the other strikers at St Mary’s, Long’s conversion rate is fairly dire. His teammate Manolo Gabbiadini has managed 10 goals in 48 appearances at 0.2 goals per game, and Charlie Austin has managed 14 goals in 56 games, at 0.25. Meanwhile, new signing Danny Ings already has four goals for The Saints, more than Long has managed in each of his previous two seasons. At first glance, this looks like Long is far inferior to his fellow strikers.

However, what these stats do not show is that Long is far less injury prone than his teammates. The fewest games that Long has played in one season for Southampton is 28, four more than the most that Austin has managed. Furthermore, Ings’ injury-prone nature is well documented; his time at Liverpool was ravaged by injuries, and he has already spent time on the sidelines since arriving at St Mary’s.

This shows that while Long may not score as much as his fellow strikers, he still has attributes that make him an asset to The Saints. Indeed, when looking at his assists, Long has twice as many assists as the three other strikers combined (although his career has been longer). If they were to let Long go, they could find themselves in frequent crises with so many injury-prone players.

The most worrying thing that this may indicate, is the problems that Southampton face when it comes to their forwards. Superficially it looks like a decent attack, but each player carries problems.