West Ham United have a chequered historical past within the switch market however no less than, below David Moyes, recruitment has been streamlined, with the progress on the pitch over the previous a number of seasons evidencing this.
Final season’s Europa Convention League triumph was clinched when Moyes signing Jarrod Bowen latched onto Moyes signing Lucas Paqueta’s pleasant threaded move to attain a late winner within the ultimate towards Fiorentina, with Mentioned Benrahma (signed by Moyes once more) netting an earlier penalty.
The membership have not received it proper every time nevertheless, and whereas there may be nonetheless loads of time for a participant like Flynn Downes to get pleasure from a affluent profession, it would not appear to be this can occur on the London Stadium.
Why West Ham signed Flynn Downes
West Ham signed Downes from Championship aspect Swansea Metropolis for a £12m payment again in July 2022, with the lifelong Hammers fan impressing within the second tier and incomes reward for his “unbelievable” performances by then Swans supervisor Russell Martin.
Martin seemingly by no means forgot such dynamic shows, with the supervisor, now main Southampton, swooping for the participant final summer time and bringing him to the south coast on a one-year mortgage deal.
However how did it get to that time, one yr on from a joyous arrival at his boyhood membership? The London membership had tracked Downes since 2020 and noticed him as the proper alternative for the retiring Mark Noble and a progressive transfer for a multi-faceted midfielder, a typifier of the fashionable recreation and the path West Ham was headed.
“He’s the proper athlete now for soccer: he’s tall, robust, wiry, fast and exceptionally match. He suits the profile of what you in all probability see in high midfielders within the Premier League,” stated former Ipswich Beneath-18s coach Alan Lee, chatting with The Athletic.
Final season, nevertheless, Downes solely began seven instances within the Premier League, and whereas he performed a outstanding position within the triumphant European conquest, his failure to cement a beginning spot pushed him away final summer time, in want of recreation time and with no assurances that he would obtain that below Moyes at West Ham.
Flynn Downes’ market worth in 2024
Now 25 years outdated, Downes is flourishing at Southampton – Martin has hailed him as soon as once more as an “aggressive” and “sensible athlete” – however he wasn’t sturdy or proactive sufficient within the Premier League, crisp in his distribution with an 89% success fee however averaging solely 0.1 key passes, 0.8 tackles, 0.3 interceptions and 1.8 profitable duels per recreation, as per Sofascore.
Positive, he was way more spectacular within the Convention League, averaging two tackles per recreation and succeeding with 60% of his contested duels, however an absence of consistency within the English top-flight precludes hopes of success below a supervisor like Moyes, who’s a confirmed winner.
Due to this, the £25k-per-week ace is now price simply £3m, in accordance with Soccer Transfers’ valuation mannequin, which takes him beneath even West Ham utility man Ben Johnson, who’s valued at simply £3.7m.
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West Ham: Lowest Worth 1st Staff Gamers |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Participant |
Age |
Market Worth |
|
Angelo Ogbonna |
35 |
£340,000 |
|
Aaron Cresswell |
34 |
£940,000 |
|
Lukasz Fabianski |
38 |
£2.7m |
|
Ben Johnson |
24 |
£3.7m |
|
Divin Mubama |
19 |
£3.8m |
|
Sourced by way of Soccer Transfers |
||
After an thrilling spurt of progress in 2021/22, beginning 16 Premier League matches, Johnson has fallen by the wayside considerably and performs second fiddle to Vladimir Coufal, making simply 4 Premier League begins this season.
Furthermore, he has didn’t make a single key move within the league but and has gained 45% of his duels, together with his dismal shows main West Ham to push for his everlasting exit, intent on cashing in moderately than loaning the 23-year-old out, as has been the case with Downes.
Market Movers
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How Downes is taking part in at Southampton
In equity, if Downes’ mortgage transfer was granted to be able to rekindle this manner and fluency, it is labored a deal with, having began 24 Championship matches to date this season for Southampton’s promotion push, finishing 94% of his passes, averaging 0.9 key passes, 1.9 tackles, 4.9 profitable duels and 5.1 ball recoveries per recreation – this can be a large distinction from his Premier League statistics.
He additionally ranks among the many high 1% of midfielders throughout divisions just like the Championship for move completion, the highest 3% for passes tried and the highest 13% for interceptions per 90, as per FBref, highlighting his crispness on the coronary heart of the midfield, with elite technicality permitting him to dictate the circulation, management the passages.
However this wasn’t realised within the Premier League and it isn’t the primary time a gifted participant has made the leap from the second tier to search out recreation time and type exhausting to return by.
That stated, the aforementioned Johnson has entered the ultimate few months of his contract however Downes has certainly suffered a depreciation purely as a result of he didn’t cement a high spot within the Hammers first-team, additionally performed throughout completely different positions (together with proper wing) in what was certain to disrupt the concord of his efficiency.
Downes will hope to have a future at West Ham however there’s a sense that he may have performed his final for the east London outfit already, with The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas of the opinion that Saints may struggle to maintain a maintain of the centre-midfielder past the 2023/24 marketing campaign.
One factor West Ham shall be determined to keep away from is making a giant loss on the participant, and since he’s presently marked at a switch worth 75% decrease than the payment paid to safe his companies lower than two years in the past, it would take some fierce negotiating abilities to persuade Southampton to put a suggestion totalling within the ballpark of £12m.
Each Downes and Johnson have loads of years left on the clock and far mileage within the tank, however neither appear to be attaining their greatest years in a West Ham shirt.
