Southampton appear unwilling to allow former Blues midfielder Flynn Downes to join one of their relegation rivals before this evening’s 11pm deadline.

Downes, 26, joined the Saints from West Ham for an initial £15 million in the summer following a successful loan last season, but is now out of favour, with new manager Ivan Juric hinting at a fall out between the pair after Saturday’s game between the teams.

Town were also very interested during the close season but Downes opted to rejoin the Saints given his successful loan and relationship with then-boss Russell Martin, who departed in December.

Despite the apparent friction, we understand the Hampshire club are, as it stands, unwilling to sell to a rival in the Premier League relegation battle.

Whether a bid significantly in excess of the £15 million fee the Saints paid in the summer would change their minds - or would be offered before tonight’s deadline - remains to be seen.

Following Saturday’s 2-1 win at Portman Road, Southampton stayed bottom but are now seven points behind Town in 19th and 10 from safety.

Brentwood-born Downes started his career with the Blues, coming through the academy and making 99 appearances for the club before being sold to Swansea City during Paul Cook’s 2021 Demolition Man summer for an initial £1.5 million.

The former England U19 and U20 international moved on to West Ham, the club he supported as a boy, the following year for £9 million but was unable to establish himself in the East Londoners’ side and was loaned to Southampton for 2023/24, helping them to promotion back to the top flight via the play-offs and subsequently making the move permanent.

TWTD

poet added 13:41 - Feb 3 Not for me, I am pleased we won’t be signing him. If things don’t go his way he sulks. He did it when he thought he was going to be signed by Palace. They offered a small fee for him and said if they bought him they’d loan him out to a Championship club. Town wanted more for him and didn’t to a deal, that didn’t suit Downes who threw teddy in the corner, and didn’t want to play anymore. West Ham eventually took a chance on him, but he struggled to get many starts, and they eventually sold him.

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johnwarksshorts added 13:53 - Feb 3 I'd have him in our squad at the drop of a hat.
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itfc2024 added 13:58 - Feb 3 he's way better than morsy and Philips I'd take him now and send back
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Suffolkboy added 14:11 - Feb 3 Past treatment under our ‘limited’ Managers ,who operated under the most severe financial restrictions are no grounds at all for making ,or even forming, a genuine judgement of what exactly went on nor of placing blame or allocating criticism alone to the player in question . FD plainly has talent and drive ,and physical stamina : if KM believes he’d fit then he would ! Let’s see what occurs . COYB

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norfsufblue added 14:17 - Feb 3 It's ridiculous that they think that they have relegation rivals.. even allowing for or depressing defeat on Saturday they are nailed on to go down... I'd have thought their main objective would be preparing for an assault on the championship next year and if the manager wants rid ...does it matter where he ends up financially ?
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itfc2024 added 14:26 - Feb 3 please mr Ashton show the ambition your been speaking about since arriving and sign downes plus a top striker
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poet added 14:31 - Feb 3 Suffolkboy no matter who your manager is, or what type of financial constraints they are under, they expect their players to act in a mature manner, and accept decisions like a grownup. Therefore the conditions that Town were operating under during the said Downs saga, are totally irrelevant. What is relevant, is the fact that he behaved in a very childish manner. The only caveat I’d put on a possible Downes signing, is that you’d hope he has now had time to mature. All above matters aside, for me personally, I don’t think he’s good enough. He struggled to make his mark at Portman Road last season for Southampton, and he was no doubt found out at West Ham…. So no, not for me.

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poet added 14:31 - Feb 3 Suffolkboy no matter who your manager is, or what type of financial constraints they are under, they expect their players to act in a mature manner, and accept decisions like a grownup. Therefore the conditions that Town were operating under during the said Downs saga, are totally irrelevant. What is relevant, is the fact that he behaved in a very childish manner. The only caveat I’d put on a possible Downes signing, is that you’d hope he has now had time to mature. All above matters aside, for me personally, I don’t think he’s good enough. He struggled to make his mark at Portman Road last season for Southampton, and he was no doubt found out at West Ham…. So no, not for me.

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WaltonBlueNaze added 15:17 - Feb 3 @fifeblue - who are the other flexible players in the squad who could do a better job than Downes?
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SuperTabby added 15:41 - Feb 3 I’d have him back for sure. He’s a good midfielder, would give us a bit more athleticism in the middle which I think we’ve lacked of late.
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bluebullet29l added 16:00 - Feb 3 Good...don't want the spoilt brat anyway...
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SickParrot added 16:14 - Feb 3 I'm not sure his worth 15 million but the selling club are in a very strong position in this window. We do need more energy in midfield and he would give us that so it's a yes from me.
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itfc2024 added 16:18 - Feb 3 so mckenna said we would only sign players that would improve the squad so go get downes if anyone think morsy is better than him needs to give their head a wobble downes is mobile and got energy where morsy is slow and passed his best we brought philogene who to me is no better than what we have already we could have used that money and got downes in who would improve the whole midfield

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Bert added 16:25 - Feb 3 Midfield is where we lack pace and energy. Downes has vastly improved since he was here and I would see him as a ready replacement for Morsy or Luongo. Saints won’t want him in the dressing room if there has been a falling out so I would not be surprised if a deal was done late in the day. Yes we need a striker but I still see Encisco or Broadhead playing off and with Delap/Hirst.

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brendenward35 added 16:56 - Feb 3 We always play 2 in midfield even when at time it would be better to have a midfield of 3 players. Maybe the amount of work that's expected of 2 midfielders is too much for them hence why Morsy is run ragged. Sometime I think McKenna needs to look better at how the other teams are set up and be prepared to change things around especially with teams like Liverpool and Man City. Both of them run through the midfield too many times. No matter who you put in midfield they are going to struggle against teams who have a midfield of 3 players.

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Linkboy13 added 17:49 - Feb 3 He's a good championship player and that seems to be the limit of our ambition im afraid we can't compete financially in the Premier league. I was impressed with Encisco on Saturday although a little raw but he's young but has got the pace strength and skill to compete in the Premier league these are the sort of players we should be targeting but we can't compete at this level so we have to do all of our shopping in the championship.

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Rimsy added 18:08 - Feb 3 Itfc 2024. Whatever happens I don't think we can accuse MA of not showing ambition or backing the manager.
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ArnieM added 18:13 - Feb 3 Downes has an attitude problem as far as I'm concerned. He got spikey when he played at PR last season because he didn't like, what all said and done, was a small minority of fans giving him some flack. The level of which from memory, wasn't anywhere near the level of his outburst at the club when he couldn't get what he wanted. Its his attitude I dont like, and whilst he was pivotal to the team 5-6 years ago and stood out, I doubt very much he'd stand apart now. He's not in.ptived, and looks very pedestrian. Could he be coached? Well, there's that attitude problem again isn't there. What's he fallen out at Saints I wonder, the captain and first on the team sheet, guy? No thanks.

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ArnieM added 18:20 - Feb 3 Brendenward33: you are talking about the major weakness or inexperience in McKenna. He will not entertain a change in girmation when it's clear to most that OCCASIONALLY it's needed. Like 3 in midfield, or two strikers at some point in a game.... game management. Putting on another defender on to help see out a game. No.he sticks on a lightweight number 10 ( we have so many to choose from), and end up either drawing or losing the game. But apparently, " we will learn from this and take the positives......"

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churchmans added 18:32 - Feb 3 Great replacement for morsy when its time! But i remember him getting anal when he wanted to leave here the first time but saying that we where champio ship and west ham where prem! We are down anyway i think! Git to build for our comeback
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KMcBlue added 19:05 - Feb 3 If we want a retaliatory, unimaginative walking card to replace our current retaliatory, unimaginative walking card, then Downes is the lad.
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Sensiblue added 19:27 - Feb 3 I'd get him in if possible but then I'm an old romantic that likes to believe in footballing fairytails and full circle stories. Probably won't happen by the sound of it and wouldn't pay much more than 10 mil for him anyhow. Mind you, What else is there out there for a team in our current position?
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shakytown added 06:06 - Feb 4 Would be a step backward. OK player but no upside for the future and how can he improve the team????? No thanks!!!!!!
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Eireannach_gorm added 12:52 - Feb 4 No thanks. We have plenty of attacking midfielders. What we require is a replacement for Morsy who is a defensive midfielder. We require a dependable physical player who can prevent the opposition playing through our midfield. Downes has gone backwards since he left us anyway and is not value for the money.
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Cadiar added 15:16 - Feb 4 Reading some of the comments make me realise that so many with big opinions actually don't really know very much about the club, for example Fifeblue's comment, what about Counago who came back how many times? Plenty of other examples. Then Len Brennan, correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe Morsy was already here when KM arrived. As for Downes returning, over rated & over priced & a liability. Would love to be able to keep Cajuste but unlikely if we're relegated, just an idea, how about Davis moving to midfield as his defending in the Prem hasn't been too good & he has cost us a lot of goals. As a creative player we do have Humpheys return to look forward to, he's been ripping it up for Wycombe but is he top quality? Who knows.

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