Some unexpected news broke with just a few hours left in Monday's transfer deadline day. That was of a possible move for Shane Long to Hull.
Shane Long gone back to England to discuss transfer. Looks like he might be about to join the burgeoning Irish contingent at Hull.
— emmet malone (@emmetmalone) September 2, 2013
The fee was mooted to be around £5 million, which was certainly surprising as it was less than the fee which West Brom were reported to have paid to Reading for his services.
West Brom have released a statement this evening in which Sporting and Technical Director, Richard Garlick, claims that the move fell through because Hull realised that they could not finance the move.
Hull then informed us they could not finance the deal they had tabled and wanted to reduce it to a level that the club would never have accepted in the first place.
Given that Shane was not a player we were looking to sell, we ended all negotiations with Hull there and then.
They also say that Long was under no pressure to move and that his representative was told so in a phone conversation but that the initial bid was accepted because "every player has his price."
Along with this, the statement says that Romelu Lukaku's decsion to join Everton ahead of the midland's club had nothing to do with Shane Long remaining at the club.