(Football news) West Ham United have completed the signing of Flynn Downes from Swansea City. The 23-year-old has signed a five-year contract with West Ham, who apparently beat off competition from Premier League club Crystal Palace to secure his signature. West Ham will pay an initial fee of £9 million for Downes but the fee could rise to as high as £14 million if certain clauses are met.
West Ham beat off competition from Crystal Palace to seal Flynn’s signature ahead of the new season. Crystal Palace were the favourites to sign Downes last week, but Swansea were holding out for a bigger fee which opened the door for West Ham to hijack the move for Downes. He had joined Swansea from Ipswich Town last summer and thrived under Russell Martin’s coaching last season. He will become West Ham’s third signing of the summer after Nayef Aguerd from Rennes and Paris Saint-Germain’s Alphonse Areola. Swansea on the other hand are closing in on a deal for Joe Allen, who started his career at Swansea and is viewed as a replacement for Downes. Allen is subsequently available on a free transfer after leaving Stoke City at the end of last season.
Flynn Downes started his career at Ongar Town in Essex before joining Ipswich Town’s Academy at the age of seven in 2006. He then went on to spend 15 years with the Suffolk club, coming up through the academy to make his first-team debut at age 18 in an EFL Championship fixture with Birmingham City on the opening day of the 2017/18 season. Flynn Downes then became the youngest Ipswich Town captain ever, when he led them in an FA Cup second-round tie against Coventry City on 1 December 2019 as he was just aged 20 years and eleven months. He also captained Swansea City, leading the Welsh club in their FA Cup third-round tie with Southampton in January 2022. The 23-year-old last season completed 92.6% of his 2,465 attempted passes in the EFL Championship, giving him the highest pass-completion rate in England's top divisions in 2021/22, he was just ahead of West Ham United's Declan Rice in second with 91.6%.
Downes told the West Ham website upon completing his move: “It’s a surreal feeling to have joined my boyhood club. I feel like I’m dreaming. It’s been my dream since I was a little boy to join this club – it’s an absolute privilege. This is my club, so I couldn’t be more delighted. I’m glad to be here and I can’t wait to get started.I want to be the best I can be and this feels like the perfect opportunity to test myself against the very best players in the Premier League.
He added by saying “Players have come to West Ham from the Championship and progressed to international honours. That’s something you can’t ignore. The manager’s track record of bringing players through was a big motivation in me joining the club. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be a West Ham player.”
West Ham manager David Moyes added: “We are pleased to have signed Flynn and looking forward to bringing him into the group.We think he's got good energy. We think he's got a lot of things which we have about our team, which we would want to keep and want to add to.
“We brought Jarrod Bowen from a similar situation at Hull, so we're always trying to find boys from the Championship who we think are going to step up to become Premier League players. I'm hoping that Flynn does. I think there's a good chance as he's got an awful lot of good attributes.”
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