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Southampton: Shane Long has some choices to make this year

ByRyan Borowski|
Southampton's Irish striker Shane Long celebrates as Southampton's English striker Danny Ings scores his team's third goal during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Southampton at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England on December 18, 2019. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Southampton's Irish striker Shane Long celebrates as Southampton's English striker Danny Ings scores his team's third goal during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Southampton at Villa Park in Birmingham, central England on December 18, 2019. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

The Irish Striker’s contract is up in June with Southampton and he will need to decide what he wants to do with his career.

Before this pandemic and the halt of the Premier League season, it appeared the striker and the club were set to sign an extension that would see Long stay a Saint for the foreseeable future.

Clubs are allowed to extend all contracts that expire this summer until the end of the current season but nobody currently knows when that would be.

LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 05: Shane Long of Southampton during the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on February 05, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus)
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 05: Shane Long of Southampton during the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay match between Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on February 05, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus)

At this point in time they could just extend his contract and deal with his contract situation at the end of the season when Hasenhuttl wanted to.

Southampton could also simply sign him to an extension that seemed to have been in the works before the season was put on pause.

This seems like the most likely scenario as it appears the player would like to stay with the club and Hasenhuttl would like to keep the player due to his experience and also his hard-work on and off the pitch.

Shane Long has endured himself to fans this season even though he was not consistently scoring. He is one of the hardest workers and runs his butt off and the team really benefited from this.

At one point I would have not like to see him return but I have had a change of heart seeing how important he is to the system and why he can be a positive impact on the team even if he does not score all of the time.

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