Everton Striker Long Joins Burnley
Burnley Football Club have this morning confirmed the signing of Chris Long from Barclays Premier League side Everton for an undisclosed fee. The striker, who spent time on loan at Brentford last season, has penned a three-year deal at Turf Moor, with a further year’s option in the club’s favour.
Burnley beat off strong competition from several clubs for the twenty year-old, who made one appearance for Everton in the 2014/15 campaign, as a late substitute in the Europa League group stage fixture against Krasnodar.
Speaking about signing for the Clarets Chris Long said, “I’m absolutely buzzing to have officially signed for Burnley Football Club and I can’t wait to get started.
I can’t thank Everton enough for what they did for me, but I think it’s time to start a new chapter in my life and I can’t wait to get started with Burnley.
KI’ve proved that I can score goals in the Championship and I only had two starts. I would have started more without injuries and I’m looking forward to scoring goals for Burnley.
I’m fresh, young and eager to succeed to be honest and I just want to show the Burnley fans what I can do.”
Born in Huyton on Merseyside, Long joined the Everton academy at the age of five and worked his way up the ranks at Goodison Park. Long scored his first professional goal against Shrewsbury Town during a loan spell at MK Dons in the 2013-14 season.
The young forward, who has represented England at U16, U17, U18 and U20 level, moved to Brentford in January, 2015 to gain valuable first-team experience. He went on to make 11 appearances and netted four times during his brief stint at Griffin Park as the season ended in a Play-Off semi-final defeat against Middlesbrough.
His first Sky Bet Championship goal came against Bournemouth, before making his first start against Huddersfield Town, scoring twice before being replaced by Andre Gray.