Downes Could Be Sent Out on Loan If Palace Successful in Pursuit
Wednesday, 2nd Sep 2020 09:42

Flynn Downes reportedly could be sent out on loan by Crystal Palace if they are successful in their pursuit of the Blues midfielder.

The Eagles have made two offers for the 21-year-old, the first of £1.2 million and the second £1.6 million, over the last couple of weeks.

Both were immediately dismissed by Town owner Marcus Evans with general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill saying yesterday that they were “nowhere near the club’s valuation”.

Downes subsequently made it known he would be interested in the move and handed in a transfer request before Evans spoke to him outlining the club’s position with the Blues in no hurry to sell the midfielder, who joined the academy aged seven.

According to The Athletic, Palace’s attempt to recruit Downes is part of a wider plan at Selhurst Park to bring in younger players to reduce the average age of the squad.

They say Downes wouldn’t be initially be viewed as a player to go straight into their first team but as one for the future who might be cover for those in the senior side or sent out on loan.

If a deal were to be agreed between the clubs - and as things stand they are a long way apart - then the Blues could be interested in Downes returning to Portman Road on loan. However, it seems likely Palace would want the England U20 international to play at Championship level rather than in League One.

Town were previously reported to be holding out for £4 million for Downes, TWTD readers' Player of the Year in 2019/20, and an initial fee at around that level or towards £5 million plus substantial top-up clauses, such as appearance milestones, would almost certainly receive more serious consideration. Claims that the Blues are after £8 million would appear unlikely in the current market.

Downes, who we understand has recently taken on a new agent, is contracted to Town until the summer of 2022 with the club having an option for a further season.

TWTD revealed that Palace were keen on the 21-year-old in early July with their sporting director Dougie Freedman having been at the Blues' game at Blackpool at the end of February as the Eagles continued an ongoing watching brief having first made contact with Town in January.

West Ham, who Downes supports and who he faced in a friendly at Portman Road last Tuesday, also made their interest known to the Blues 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.

Photo: Matchday Images

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OwainG1992 added 09:55 - Sep 2 Truly not enjoying all this. Feels very much he will not be a town player come the end of the window. It culd allow plyaers
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OwainG1992 added 09:56 - Sep 2 Bloody phone. Could allow players to step up. Dozell etc.
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rozeeboy added 10:07 - Sep 2

What bugs me are these additional clauses. It puts the gamble of a players future at the feet of the selling club. In this example, we get the £4M off the bat but we may never get the additional £1M if he never reaches these milestones through his development stalling, injury or team selections. The same with a sell-on clause, what if he spends the rest of his career at Palace?

If Palace want him then pay the £5M (or more if we can get it) and he's your problem. If he gets injured, or falls out of favour with the manager, we are not hit in the pocket. Palace want him, they take the gamble and not us!!

Rant over!!

PS - I'm sure these deals are more complex than this
PPS - I want him to stay

Fatboy added 10:07 - Sep 2 We need certain players to step up even if Downes stays!
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Len_Brennan added 10:09 - Sep 2

This would make no sense for us, even if he were sent back here for that loan. Most of us are if the view that his value will only go up with another season under his belt, even in League 1; if we were to (somehow) get promoted that rise in value would be even greater. So why would sell now with 3 years (2 +1) left on his contract. And for Downes, he won't even be playing in the Premier League if he joins them. He has already played Championship football with us & has to feel that promotion is a fair possibility this season.
Can it really be down to wages in the main? I guess the salary cap ended any chance his agent had of boosting his salary with us & to be fair, all players are 1 bad tackle away from missing out on the dream of playing for a top flight club on a life changing contract, so it's understandable to want to take the chance when it comes. But, he has to recognise the ridiculousness of the Palace offer & consider if it's worth ending things here on a sour note for a year of loan play at Luton perhaps.

Gforce added 10:35 - Sep 2

It's not certain by any means that this deal will go through. Mr Evans can be stubborn at times, I remember a few years ago, if my memory serves me correctly he turned down around 8 million for Mcgoldrick from Leicester and the deal fell through. Let's hope he holds out for a similar amount with Downes.
What we should be doing is selling off all the dead wood, like Chambers, Kenlock, Donacian, Nolan, Judge and one or two others I could mention, this would clear the way for new additions which we badly need. Problem is nobody wants them.

MonkeyAlan added 10:38 - Sep 2 Whatever they pay we won't know. It will be undisclosed most probably, mainly because Evans will cave in and give him away cheaply.
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Freddies_Ears added 10:40 - Sep 2

He is a million miles away from being ready to play in the Premier League, so a loan to a Championship club would be the obvious step for him. Given we cannot use any transfer fee income, due to the FFP restrictions, it makes more sense for us to loan him to a Championship club for the season, and benefit from any increase in transfer value (or pop him into our team when we get promoted...!!!!)

Karlosfandangal added 11:12 - Sep 2

Downes would be a lost long term.however Ipswich will never keep him because Town cant offer a deal like the Prem can.
If the price is silly money let him go as in the short term Huws can do a good job in there if he stays fit.

If town do keep him this will surface again in Jan window
Only way to keep him is to win promotion and give him a good contract.

If this if that etc

arc added 11:13 - Sep 2 Flynn, if they only want to pay £1.5m for you, it means they don't really rate you–a decent punt to bring a fresh face in, but not really a serious first-team prospect. Years of loans await. You can do better.
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philpott2 added 11:29 - Sep 2

So Downes gets a new agent and then slaps in a transfer request.... Reminds me of the old days and a certain agent (Barnett?) had his annual payday with Bramble, Bent, Ambrose etc.

I can't see Flynn as being anything more than Mark Noble quality wise, at best, and very much unpolished at this stage.

When was the last time a quality midfielder came out of the academy? Dyer back in the mid 90's I reckon.
Some half decent ones since e.g. Ambrose and Westlake, and those not quite as good but for some reason fairly highly rated i.e. Garvan, Trotter, Hyam? And now we've El Mizouni, Bishop, Dozzell and Downes. Seriously lightweight, weak and ineffective in my view, certainly not consistent enough, with maybe Dobra being the only one of the younger brigade with a remote idea of where the goal is.

It's pretty poor really, over 25 years! In fact, sadly, Tommy Miller was probably the best or most effective during that period, which says something (IMHO).

Before Dyer there was Milton, Stockwell and Jason Dozzell.

Downes is better than the rest of what we have currently, and if we can sell it has to be £4m+, up front, and not a 10% sell on clause, it s.b 50% if sold in 12 months, 45% in second year, and 40% after 3 years, recognising that we produced him and they are (?) improving the talent they've purchased. Not allowing the farcical and pathetic figures we got for Clarke, Webster, Mings etc.

I just don't see the players coming through, being all that good! Reputations and promise appear very high, people raving about the talent, but very few actually look the part when playing in that first team.

Let's have a season of playing our best team available for every match, react to injuries and suspensions, little rotation, and have a good go at winning matches in the new season!!

TractorRoyNo1 added 11:39 - Sep 2 Could be loaned to the Scum, but little buddy tells me it will be QPR
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Surco72 added 12:38 - Sep 2 Although player of the year here , Downes was hardly pulling up trees in reality , he just looked better because the rest were so bad . I don't think at present he is even championship standard and needs another season establishing himself and then he will be worth more to us anyway . He has only just signed an improved contract so honour it
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Bluedandy added 12:46 - Sep 2 This is already shaping up to be another unutterably dull preseason transfer saga ... daily updates on just how many bowls of peanuts will be acceptable seem inevitable.
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MickMillsTash added 13:10 - Sep 2

Downes has had one good season but I thought he was good. once he won the ball if he had been able to pass to someone other than Alan Judge or Nolan then we may have appreciated him more. For his own progression he should leave - play at a higher level get more Money
3 Million would pay our wage bill for 4 months? and with no money coming in - its got to be tempting but from a footballing point of view this is just a big loss and 1.6 Million seems ridiculous.
We've sold before and come back stronger with the Dyer money, and Cresswell sale but generally when we have lost our best player its been a backward step

Westy added 13:24 - Sep 2 If that is the case then he may end up at a League One club anyway !
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oldegold added 14:32 - Sep 2 evans should send out a statement of intent that he will not sell at any price. Palace won't offer more than £2m for him so it's an opportunity for evans to show he wants to get out of division one
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Cloddyseedbed added 15:53 - Sep 2 I don't rate him that highly. If this/he is going to be a problem or unsettling influence to the club sell him. Nobody in this current squad is not replaceable.
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BildestonBlue added 15:57 - Sep 2

Can we honestly blame the likes of Downes and Woolfy for wanting to progress?
Our current regime seems totally stagnant and although I love the club, the direction in which we are heading is anything but proactive and progressive.

Best case would be Downes stays, if he leaves I hope we keep him for the remainder of this season on loan with 0% wage coming from us, this frees up money to invest in actually trying to get out of this league whilst still having our most all rounded CM (if his wage counts towards us, I'm not sure of the rules exactly).

we need another striker and im very worried about LB and LCB if Ward is injured.

I hate slating Managers but Lambert infuriates me!!

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 18:35 - Sep 2 We loan him out to a Championship club. That's a novel idea. I'd rather that than we sell him to Palace. At least he'd still be our player at the end of the loan.
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pennblue added 18:42 - Sep 2 How have we ended up so low that clubs like Palace are buying our best youngsters and loaning them out! We are a bigger club than Palace ffs!
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