Southampton seem to be having some troubles with strikers and the Football Transfer Tavern punters are imagining if they had some of their past greats to help them out in front of goal…

Shane Long is a brilliant worker and hassles defenders all day long, and so would arguably be the best player around to allow a fellow forward to work a bit less and solely concentrate on getting goals and producing quality.

The thought of having the Irishman up top with some of the club’s all-time greats is exciting our punters. They feel like the Saints would be able to comfortably get into Europe each season with one of these additions.

With that said, here are 3 former strikers who Southampton fans would love to partner Shane Long…

 Matt Le Tissier

Arguably Southampton’s best ever player, Le Tissier was a magician with the ball at his feet – and with Shane Long working alongside and around him Southampton would no doubt get a lot of goals.

He scored some of the best goals in Premier League history and even though he would need others to cover him, it would be more than worth it to see him exciting the supporters at St. Mary’s again.

He is the club’s top ever goal scorer and would definitely be able to get the ball in the net for the side.

 Alan Shearer

One of the greatest goal scorers in Premier League history, Southampton would love to see his trademark, hand in the air celebration again.

His best days came with Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers, but he started out with Southampton and if they could have a player like the one that he became, Southampton, or most other sides, would be over the moon.

His main attribute was scoring goals, but his hold up play and work off the ball were also brilliant, and with him next to Shane Long the opposition defence wouldn’t be able to catch a break.

Kevin Phillips

Kevin Phillips is a natural finisher, who managed to score goals wherever he played.

He and Shane Long would be a near perfect partnership, as Long would be able to run in behind the defence, while Phillips would come to collect the ball and dominate play from deeper positions.

Phillips would be able to link up well with the Irish striker or shoot from long range, and the pairing would be a very unpredictable one that defenders would have trouble dealing with.