Blues midfielder Flynn Downes is set to join Luton Town on loan until the end of the season.

Downes, 19, broke into the first team at the start of the campaign but last featured for Mick McCarthy’s side in November with injuries having hampered him in recent months.

We understand the deal is not yet confirmed but is expected to go through before tonight’s 11pm deadline.

The Brentwood-born academy product is very much viewed as one for the future and the move would be one purely so he can gain experience of senior football.

In the summer, having impressed in pre-season, the England U19 international signed a contract which runs to the end of June 2020 with the club having an option for a further season only a matter of weeks after putting pen to paper on his first professional deal.

We understand Hatters boss Nathan Jones recently watched Town’s U23s in action as he looked around for potential January additions to his squad.

Luton, who the Blues beat 2-0 in the Carabao Cup in August, a game in which Downes made his first senior start, are currently top of League Two by eight points.

Photo: TWTD

braveblue added 13:27 - Jan 31 Or we could give him a chance here?
12

LWNR2013 added 13:33 - Jan 31 Good move. Good player.
4

Paddy39 added 13:35 - Jan 31 League two winners medal on its way. No he needs lower Div to progress, better than bench warming and really is one for the future.
6

Green_Army added 13:35 - Jan 31 In a season that looks to be fizzling out, and a chance to give some younger lads a chance, we go and loan out, in my opinion, one of our biggest prospects - looked a great player at the start of the season. Oh sorry forgot we've got Gleeson! Hooray!
25

JackSted added 13:35 - Jan 31 Good choice. Get a bit of experience with a high-flying league 2 team and come back here with a lot of confidence ready to impress our new manager
0

kozmik added 13:36 - Jan 31 Any news on Adembiyi?
-1

runningout added 13:36 - Jan 31 with all these good young footballers from us playing elsewhere on loan, we should be brill next season
-2

hampstead_blue added 13:36 - Jan 31 Luton have also just taken a young Man Utd player I think. Seems like their policy of finding young players keen to make a mark is working.
1

santiagomudez added 13:38 - Jan 31 I think this is a great move all round. Good seeing our better academy players going out and playing at a decent standard. As a club we have benefitted from having and improved players coming in on loan, hopefully the same will happen for our youngsters.
1

timkatieadamitfc added 13:38 - Jan 31 Or if he is sent out on loan then why not give him to a league 1 club so he is playing at a higher level. Christ the way we are going at the minute he may be playing there next season anyway
-1

ArnieM added 13:38 - Jan 31 Downes out on loan. Why cant he play for us , considering we have significantly weakned Midfield due to our injury crisis ? Something smells with this IMO .
12

Rensham added 13:39 - Jan 31 Glad we're investing some game time on Gleason. He may turn out to be the new Tabby.
2

howdonblue added 13:39 - Jan 31 Great learning for him
1

Mark added 13:43 - Jan 31 Given our ongoing midfield injury crisis, this is a surprise. I was hoping we could get Downes fit and start him in our first team, given how good he was in pre-season and early in the season before injury. On Saturday our central midfielders on the bench were Bru and Hyam. I would prefer to see Downes play over either of those.
11

have_a_word_with_him added 13:48 - Jan 31 Sorry what was that 5 point strategy and bringing young players through? Absolutely incoherent structure at this club at the moment.
5

NoCanariesAllowed added 13:50 - Jan 31 I'm not too happy about this one. Yes, he's had injury problems, but any time I've watched Downes play, he always looked pretty comfortable already at this level. Given how thin our squad is, I'm not sure we can afford to be letting go of players who can genuinely hold their own in Championship action like this lad has shown. He'll do great at Luton, I'm certain of that. But I honestly believe he could and should be getting more games with us.

11

baxter7 added 13:56 - Jan 31 Any chance of skuse and chambers going out on loan my local Sunday morning side are on the lookout for a CB and a pass the ball backwards midfielder oh yes forgot they are proper blokes sorry Mick
7

H1960 added 13:57 - Jan 31 Disgraceful I thought the 5 point plan was to encourage and bring through our young players, this season can be written off as we are now looking to end up in mid table mediocrity, why sign a 32 year old Birmingham reject and place him ahead off a young player who looked a real prospect at the start of the season
9

H1960 added 13:59 - Jan 31 PS can't we have the Luton manager to replace MM?
5

H1960 added 13:59 - Jan 31 PS can't we have the Luton manager to replace MM?
1

muccletonjoe added 13:59 - Jan 31 When you think it cant get any worse...
6

Moisha added 14:20 - Jan 31 This is a good move all round, Jones can have a good look at him prior to taking over at Ipswich in the summer!!
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Warkys_Tash added 14:41 - Jan 31 NOOOOO, Why? He looked great this season and just come back from injury. He is one player we have to keep!!!
9

Len_Brennan added 15:02 - Jan 31 I'm generally in favour of our younger players going on loan in order to get match experience at league level; mostly in order to see if they are good enough to be first team squad considerations with regular games under their belts - often times they are not, despite our wishes & what is typed up on here by some fans who seem to think most youth players can just step up to senior football at Championship level without any trouble - but Flynn Downes is one of those exceptions in my view. He has already proven his ability, maturity & strength at this level, and given our horrendous injury crisis in midfield, I would have expected him to feature quite a bit before the end of the season anyway. Still, it's all good for his development I suppose.

5

Lightningboy added 15:05 - Jan 31 Can we send Mick out on loan for the remainder of his contract.
7

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