Ralph Hasenhüttl: We will find a solution for Shane Long | OneFootball

Shane Long isn’t getting any younger and it’s widely believed that the 34-year-old will be leaving Southampton this summer.

The Ireland international has struggled to make the grade over at Championship side Bournemouth but manager Ralph Hasenhüttl has opened the door to a potential stay.

“We will discuss every player when they are coming back and then we know what we need to do next season – what is the goal, how we want to play and what players are fitting then to our shape, what we want to do,” Hasenhüttl responded.

“This all has an influence on the decision we take.

“Longy had done a good job for this club for a long time and we will find a solution, definitely.

“Either he stays here or when he has another option, we will have a look for this. This is how we will handle every player.”

When asked about his loan spell, where Long scored just twice in 25 total appearances (totalling 743 minutes), Hasenhüttl said: “I think it could have been more.

“He was also injured I think one time and, overall, you have to say all our loan players didn’t get the game time they expected to get.

“You can always speculate why this happens. We don’t know it 100 per cent but we only see the fact that they are not playing enough.

“Mario Lemina played a little bit more at Fulham but also relegating with the team.

“Finally, we have a few others in other leagues not so much playing – not a lot of players get the chance to play there.”

Long arrived at Southampton from Hull City in 2014, scoring 35 goals and dishing out 26 assists in 226 games for the club.