Town are reported to have turned down a second offer from Premier League Crystal Palace for midfielder Flynn Downes.
In July, TWTD revealed that Crystal Palace were keen on the 21-year-old with sporting director Dougie Freedman having been at Town’s game at Blackpool at the end of February as the Selhurst Park club continued an ongoing watching brief.
As previously reported, the Eagles made an earlier bid for the academy product, understood to have been just north of £1 million and now, according to the EADT, the South Londoners have come back with a second offer of £2 million, which again has been rebuffed.
Although the Blues were previously reported to have put a valuation of £4 million on the England U20 international, who was TWTD readers’ Player of the Year for 2019/20, it’s likely Town would want an overall deal, including clauses such as appearance milestones, worth significantly more than that if they were to sell. An offer of £2 million is unlikely to have been given much consideration.
Owner Marcus Evans is understood to have no plans to offload any of the club’s prized assets this summer, despite the financial implications of the coronavirus crisis.
Asked earlier this week whether he would be a Town player this season, Downes responded: "Hopefully, obviously we’ll see. You can never say for sure, but hopefully I will be.”
Quizzed on whether he was aware of any interest, he added: "I’ve heard little bits and bobs but I’m just focusing on the football, that’s all I can say really, I’m focusing on the football and everything else will be taken care of. That’s sort of it.”
West Ham, who Downes supports and who he faced in a friendly at Portman Road on Tuesday, also made their interest known to Town in January, while Fulham are among the other clubs to have been keeping tabs on the Brentwood-born schemer. Reports of interest from Arsenal are understood to be wide of the mark.