Shane Long and Yan Valery set for instant reunion as pair face off at loan clubs

Southampton loan pair Shane Long and Yan Valery are set to face off this weekend as the duo meet at the Vitality Stadium with managerless Bournemouth hosting Birmingham City.

The two sealed moves to the Championship on deadline day and both are set to line-up against each other in their first appearances for their respective clubs.

Firstly, Long made the move along the coast to join Bournemouth on a loan deal until the end of the season after Cherries’ striker Josh King made the switch to Everton with his contract at the Vitality Stadium expiring this summer, meaning the club needed more depth in the striking positions.

The Southampton loanee has found regular first team opportunities tough to come by this season, featuring just 14 times, most of which have come from the bench with young striker Dan N’Lundulu being preferred to the the Republic of Ireland international in recent weeks.

He will hope that he can hit the ground running this weekend against Championship strugglers Birmingham City this weekend and help get the Cherries back on track after four consecutive league defeats.

With Long having not played too much of late, you would think that he will be restricted to being on the bench initially but with the form of Dominic Solanke fading, caretaker manager Jonathan Woodgate may be tempted to chuck him straight into the side.

The 34-year-old will face a player he knows well in the Blues’ ranks in the form of Valery, who like Long, is also on a loan deal until until the end of the season.

The Frenchman has also struggled for regular minutes at St Mary’s, making just four appearances and has started just once in the Premier League, falling below the excellent Kyle Walker-Peters in the pecking order.

Despite the former Tottenham man currently being out injured with a thigh injury, Valery has only started one of the last three games which prompted his move to the Midlands.

He is still young in his career, having made just 40 senior appearances to date and goes into a club where he needs to make an impact straight away.

The Blues are right in the mix at the bottom of the second tier, only out of the drop zone by two points but have played two more games than Rotherham United in 22nd place so face a massive fight to avoid the drop.

Valery and his teammates head to Bournemouth knowing they face a side lacking any confidence having failed to pick up a single point in any of their last four, so despite their own poor form, they will be desperate to take advantage of this.

The two sides met back in November where the Cherries secured a comfortable 3-1 victory thanks to a brace from David Brooks, a result which at the time took Jason Tindall’s team into fourth, just a point off the automatic promotion places.

Both players will be desperate to earn some much needed game-time and make a quick impact following their respective moves from Southampton as they fight at the opposite ends of the Championship table.

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