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Palace Again Linked With £4m Downes
Saturday, 18th Jul 2020 09:33

Crystal Palace are again being linked with Blues midfielder Flynn Downes with Town said to targeting a fee of around £4 million for the 21-year-old.

TWTD revealed the Eagles’ interest in Downes earlier this month, now The Athletic lists the academy product on a list of young players Palace are eyeing as they look to bring down the average age of their squad ahead of 2020/21.

They claim the Blues are holding out for a fee of around £4 million for England U20 international Downes, who is contracted until the summer of 2022 with the club having an option for a further season.

As TWTD previously reported, Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman was at Town’s game at Blackpool at the end of February as the Selhurst Park club continued an ongoing watching brief. We understand they made Town an offer in January which was rebuffed.

West Ham have also made their interest known to the Blues, while Fulham are among the other clubs to have been keeping tabs on the Brentwood-born schemer, who TWTD readers voted their 2019/20 Town Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Speaking to TWTD just over a week ago, general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill said Downes is in no hurry to leave Portman Road.

“Flynn’s really happy here, he’s itching to get back into training and games, as all the players are really,” he said.

“The way it finished and the way we finished as a club is not what they want going forward so they want to go and make amends and they want to put it right.

“He’s as committed to the football club as he’s always been all the way through his journey.”

Downes and the rest of his team-mates are set to return to Playford Road for training under strict safety guidelines on Tuesday.


Photo: TWTD



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Bergholt_Blue added 09:37 - Jul 18
£4m!? I understand he's a league one player, but that's taking the p.
9

muccletonjoe added 09:46 - Jul 18
How many times have we seen this ? He will go for a pittance with a dozen add ons related to appearances etc. What can we do with the money anyway, if there is a wage cap imposed on league one finances?
It is a never ending spiral into mediocrity , largely of our own making.
Just look at the team we COULD have now, by retaining the players we already had.
15

hadleighboyblue added 09:49 - Jul 18
£4m doesn't seem enough , better to build the team around him , make him skipper . We need a leader in midfield and out of all the midfielders he is the one we should keep .

Can see the money we get being lost in the accounts so we don't see much benefit .
16

hadleighboyblue added 09:50 - Jul 18
£4m doesn't seem enough , better to build the team around him , make him skipper . We need a leader in midfield and out of all the midfielders he is the one we should keep .

Can see the money we get being lost in the accounts so we don't see much benefit .
0

mib added 09:55 - Jul 18
It will be typical Ipswich, sell for around 3 million and Crystal Palace will sell him on For around 25 million. When are we going to start keeping these players, we wont have a decent team again until we do.
17

Len_Brennan added 09:58 - Jul 18
£4m doesn't do him justice. Sometimes it's potential that is bought in a young, lower league player, but Flynn Downes is already far more than that. He is certainly ready to be a regular in a Championship side &, in my view, would be in the match day squad, at least, of a Premier League side of Palace's size.
The difficulty we have though, is that the big money generally goes on attacking players, certainly when it's from Division 1 or lower tier sides. Lookman, Assambolonga (spelling?), Dele Ali all went for decent money, but all were seen as goal scorers; defenders & holding midfielers rarely go for the really big fees, unless they are already established in the top 2 divisions. Unfortunately, I can see Flynn going for £4m & that figure may well include appearance add ons. All we can hope is that we'd negotiate a proper sell on fee aswell, so we get 20% of the £30m he goes for when Palace sell him to a top 6 club.
6

BlueandTruesince82 added 10:40 - Jul 18
We are never going to command much more than that in L1 esp with the current finnancial climate. We don't need to sell him so would prefer to keep him at least one more year and if we go up so will his value and perhaps his inclination to stay.

Alternatively straight swap for Zaha who I understand wants to play for a big club with a history.
8

Razor added 10:51 - Jul 18
He is actually worth TEN MILLION squid to this football club but as usual we will sell him cheap when put under a bit of pressure.

And if sold will all the money be re-invested in strengthening our squad----what do you think!!
4

raycrawfordswig added 10:56 - Jul 18
Will sell for peanuts then buy some 30+ year old sick note who plays 10 games a season
6

KernewekBlue added 10:57 - Jul 18
Here we go again!

ME will no doubt part company with our best, homegrown talent for a small bag of peanuts. He'll quite happily sell our club and the fans down the river to offset a little of the previous losses which were accrued due to his lack of football acumen and investment in playing staff when it was sorely needed.

I hope I'm wrong but, unfortunately, this is an owner who continues to grind his dirty heel full in the face of this once great and proud club, dragging us down the league and into div.1 and who has sullied what was a fine and glorious history through his poor tenure.

Is there any light at the end of this dark and dreary ME tunnel?

6

Shawsey added 10:57 - Jul 18
Sadly, probably about right for a L1 player. They are taking a gamble that he will be good enough for the PL, which isn't a given. I think for him, it would be a good move.
-2

Bluearmy_81 added 11:12 - Jul 18
Mib we won't sell him for 3m, we'll sell him for about 1.5m with some add ons which will never transpire. Next stop league 2 I'm afraid...
2

Pencilpete added 11:13 - Jul 18
If the £4m was spent on transfer fees I'd take but it wont, itll go towards "the running of the club" and we'll replace him with some free transfer from Kilmarnock
2

planetblue_2011 added 11:19 - Jul 18
He's worth double that even if he is a league one player.Hope we don't sell him but if we did we have got plenty of talent in midfield to take his place. We just need the Dozzell's, Nolan's & Huw's to step up. El Mizouni should definitely be pushing for a first place next season in central midfield. Keep Downes and you can see the talent in midfield we have to compete for places.
4

Michael101 added 11:32 - Jul 18
Same thing every year,wait till the season tickets are sold then sell our players.never mind Marcus needs the money don't think his ticket tout business is doing very well at the moment.
7

herfie added 11:36 - Jul 18
Who arrived at the figure of £4M- them or us? Sadly, based upon our very poor recent transfer history. I can only see this ending well for the buying club - whoever that is. Appreciate the business realities of our current status, but we need to be a lot more savvy........
2

Uppatown90 added 11:43 - Jul 18
Think most of you need to take a bit of a reality check I'm afraid. Flynn is a cracking player with great potential, but unfortunately in todays climate and the position the club finds themselves in. They would have to seriously think about an offer of 4 million. I would hate to see him go as he was by far our best player last season, would not surprise me at all if they do sell him though
4

StavangerBlue added 11:46 - Jul 18
Next year will be difficult. League 2 beckons.
1

algarvefan added 12:06 - Jul 18
Oh dear what a gloomy bunch on here today!!

Other clubs always want your best players, I guess it's a compliment and if it's at a price the club cannot refuse (and of course if he wants to go) then sometimes it has to happen, regardless of who the owner is, it is sometimes in the overall best interests of the club to sell.

We are where we are ladies and gents, get over it and regardless of whoever comes and stays I believe the people at Town have the clubs best interests at heart. I shall continue to support the team I love no matter where they are or which league they are in. We need supporters doom merchants.
3

finidi added 12:07 - Jul 18
Seams fair to me dont forget we are snow a third tier club ME could give PL 1m for a marquee signing like KVY then two loans we are sorted. We are well stocked in midfield we can look forward to the emergence of Dobra El Mizouni, Huws Bishop and Dozxell owe us a good season. Nolan, Mcgavin, Hughes and the oldboy Skuse
5

BlueArrow added 12:18 - Jul 18
I can see him leaving but Palace?
2

ArnieM added 12:33 - Jul 18
Oh, so now we have an actual price tag on him now do we ! I'd take the mo eh and give Lambert half of it . Evans has once last shot at getting out of this division before the salary cap comes in . It's his choice , “ go for it “ this season or pocket the money and end any chance we have of getting promoted .
1

RegencyBlue added 12:46 - Jul 18
He's a League 1 player guys, £4 million would be top dollar for a player at this level and I can't see that happening here.

My guess would be £1.5 to £2 million with maybe some add ons for appearances.

1

Cakeman added 12:55 - Jul 18
Only £6 million short in my view. It doesn't matter if he is in league one or not he is still worth £10 million
2

midastouch added 12:57 - Jul 18
Wonder if they'd do a swap deal, say we said £3 million and they throw us Zaha's shoelace in as part exchange for the deal. Honestly, Norwich are saying the bidding starts at £20 mill for any of their young players, it shows just how far we've fallen through the cracks with Hurst and Lambert! When will Evans ever give us a manager that knows how to regularly outscore the opposition?
5


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