SAINTS boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has left the door open for Shane Long to stay at the club.

Long’s contract expires next summer but he is currently in the midst of an excellent run of form, scoring three goals in his last four matches.

As well as notching his 50th Premier League goal, the Irishman scored the fastest goal in the competition’s history with his effort against Watford hitting the back of the net in 7.69 seconds.

Hasenhuttl said: “I think Shane is an important part of the team.

“As he said he was not in the position to knock on my door and he showed the last four games the best arguments you have as a player is playing good games and the performance not only because of the goals but his style and attitude is a good one.

“He’s a fantastic character that every manager wants to have in his team and that’s the most important thing for him.

“It’s important he stays fit. He’s not the youngest guy and he knows he has to do more to get his body in the right shape.

“We work very hard with him showed him the positions he has to be in to get more dangerous in front of the goal and now he showed the first step in his development.

“You never stop learning. I played until 37-years-old and my last three or four years I learnt the most.”

Long, 32, is the oldest player left at Saints after former captain Steven Davis joined Rangers on loan back in January.

Despite being the elder statesman, the Republic of Ireland international is the only striker to score for Hasenhuttl’s side in 2019.

And Saints’ boss put his recent record down to Long learning more about recovery, but also because he is now getting himself into dangerous positions.

“He knows now he is not 21 anymore,” continued Hasenhuttl.

“His body needs more work because he is a very dynamic player with good speed and if you get older you must work harder on your body and do more preparing before and after training.

“Also, to think about habits he has in his game, ways of attacking the box if they are always the best and I think they weren’t.

“Now he has more targeting to the goal and maybe that’s why he comes more often why he comes into position to score.

“I show him how to do the perfect run to come to the perfect position and to score and he is open-minded and maybe that’s why he scores more.”

Although he has been impressed with Long's performances, Hasenhuttl stopped short of saying he is the most improved player at Saints.

He added: “I don’t want to see he is the only one who improves while I am here if you see Reddie [Nathan Redmond] or the other guys.

“Development is not always going up, up, up every time. Sometimes one or two games are not so good but you show you learn from mistakes and make the next step.”