West Bromwich Albion technical director Richard Garlick has denied that Shane Long's proposed move to Hull City collapsed because of the club's failure to land Romelu Lukaku.
The Republic of Ireland international looked likely to complete a move to the KC Stadium after the Baggies accepted a bid from the Tigers on deadline day.
The move shelved not long after it was announced that Lukaku, who spent last season on loan at The Hawthorns, was on his way to Everton for the season, but Garlick said it had nothing to do with missing out on the Belgian.
"Hull unexpectedly contacted us on Monday and tabled an acceptable offer for Shane," PA quotes Garlick as saying. "Given that every player has his price, we discussed it as a club.
"We accepted Hull's offer in principle and gave them permission to speak to Shane, but the deal depended on many other factors - including a real reluctance to sell. In a phone conversation with Shane's representative, I informed him that Shane was under no pressure to leave. We were definitely not trying to force him out.
"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."
West Brom signed Victor Anichebe from Everton in a deal that could rise to £6m.
Michael Penkman
