Saints are set to make this summer’s spending the most lavish in the club’s history as they aim to tie up deals for Shane Long and Florin Gardos.

Republic of Ireland striker Long is set to become the club’s second most expensive signing of all time after Saints agreed a £12.5m fee with Hull for his services.

Gardos will cover the centre half position vacated by Dejan Lovren if, as expected, he finally completes a switch from Steaua Bucharest for around £6m.

It will take Saints’ total spending this summer to around £47.5m. Saints have also splashed out £8m for Graziano Pelle, £11m for Dusan Tadic and £10m for Fraser Forster, as well as bringing in Ryan Bertrand and Saphir Taider on loan deals.

The duo’s arrival will also mean the squad is arguably boosted from the end of last season in terms of numbers.

Long and Gardos will make seven new arrivals this summer.

There have been five high profile sales – Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Lovren and Calum Chambers – which netted in excess of £90m.

Three others have departed, but they were not exactly in the running to play regularly. Dani Osvaldo has gone out on loan again, but was not at the club for the second half of last season anyway, while bit part player Guly do Prado has been released. Billy Sharp, who was totally out of the first team reckoning, has also been sold.

The move for Long is well advanced and could be confirmed as soon as today.

Hull were reluctant to sell the 27-year-old, having only signed him in January for £6m, but accepted that a £6.5m mark up in such a short space of time was just too good an offer to refuse.

Long was discovered playing for Cork City at the same time as Kevin Doyle, and Reading moved to bring the pair to the Madjeski Stadium in 2005.

He went on to spend six full seasons with the Royals, scoring 54 goals in 201 appearances, and won the Championship title with them in 2005/06.

West Brom forked out £6.5m to bring him to the Hawthorns in 2011 and he played 87 times for the Baggies, netting 22 goals.

Long moved to Hull in January for £6m, and scored four times in 15 Premier League appearances during his short stay with the Tigers.

He has also won 47 caps for the Republic of Ireland, and scored 11 times for his country.

The size of his fee has surprised some, given he has only hit double figures in one season from nine in English football, and that not being in the Premier League, but he is an experienced top flight footballer, and that comes at a premium, while clubs know Saints have money to spend and the season is get closer.

The move for Gardos is still on despite taking a while to finalise.

Saints hope to have both deals completed in time for the players to train with their teammates and be available for the Premier League opener against Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.