Hull City boss Steve Bruce is still hopeful he can bring Shane Long to the KC Stadium.
The Tigers' pursuit of the Republic of Ireland striker looked to have hit a dead end this week, with Long's wife, Kayleah, insisting on Twitter that he was "not going anywhere!".
She added: “Told Shane happy here & with baby on way it not worth the stress when still in contract! He agreed #happydays.”
Bruce, it seems, did not get the message and when asked after the 2-0 defeat to Chelsea about his pursuit of firepower in the form of Nikica Jelavic and Long, he said: "A new player always brings a little bit to the squad, a bit of impetus. Let's hope we can get both. You're never sure how it can go but we're trying our best."
Long started for West Brom at Southampton today.
Hull’s efforts to sign Jelavic are much further down the line, with Bruce confirming this afternoon that a fee has been agreed with Everton for the Croatian.
"We hope that we can persuade him to come and play here," Bruce told the BBC. "Certainly it would be terrific for us, he's desperate to go to the World Cup. "
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is hoping his team-mates will develop a taste for life at the top of the table after climbing to the Premier League summit with their win at the KC Stadium.
Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres, on his 200th Premier League appearance, were the scorers as the Blues moved above Arsenal and Manchester City for 24 hours at least.
Jose Mourinho’s men have now won four on the trot in the league and Cech is eager to keep that run going.
“The most important thing is that we keep winning games and winning trophies,” he told BT Sport. “We want to win the league if we can and hopefully clean sheets will help us achieve our targets. Now we’re top of the league for the first time in a long time and hopefully we can stay there.
“We hope to keep going. We are getting better and today was a very difficult game. But we were very solid and good in attack and that’s why we score goals.
“We are a young team and hopefully we can take advantage of that.”
There has been some speculation over Hazard’s future in recent days, with Mourinho stating the Belgian international would not be leaving the club despite reported interest from Paris St Germain.
And the Chelsea boss reiterated that stance on Saturday, although he is keen not to put too much expectation on Hazard’s shoulders.
“The club made that decision because every manager wants a player like him,” said the Portuguese coach. “I’m not expecting to put too much pressure on him or for him to be the man of the match every game, but what I expect from him is his motivation, his commitment, his responsibility.
“This season I think you are watching a much more mature player and because of that he is becoming a fantastic player.”
