Former Blues midfielder Flynn Downes has confirmed he spoke to Town about a return to Portman Road midway through 2024/25 having fallen out with then-Southampton boss Ivan Juric.

Juric left Downes out of the Saints squad for their game at Portman Road in February 2025 just before the transfer window closed, subsequently explaining that it was an “ugly situation because his attitude was not good”.

Town, who had also been keen on a reunion with the former academy man the previous summer, were interested in bringing him back to Portman Road, but it was understood that the Saints were unwilling to sell to another club in the Premier League relegation dogfight, while Downes himself was believed to be pushing for the switch.

However, the 27-year-old says he was the one who decided against the move, not the club.

“No one has ever spoken to me about the Juric situation, but I’m as straight up as they come. We had a row on that pitch over there,” Downes told the Daily Echo.

“I was like, ‘Well, the manager wants me to leave the club, I’ve got no chance, that’s it’. He came out in the press and said I was desperate to leave.

“I was never desperate to leave. We spoke to Ipswich, but it was my choice not to go. I didn’t say anything and I got a bit of stick from the fans.

“But if the fans knew the story, they wouldn’t have. I thought, ‘everyone in the changing room and everyone I care about knows the truth’.

“Every time I put that shirt on, there’s no one who wants to win more than me. No one in a Saints shirt. So it did hurt me a little bit.

“It hurt me because no one knew what had happened, but that’s long gone now. It’s done, I let that go a long time ago.

“I feel like I’m a totally different person and player than two or three years ago. People say that experience is priceless, and it really is.

“Over the last couple of years, my views on the game have changed so much, and obviously working with so many different managers.

“I always felt that I had to have a really close connection with a manager to play well – that’s why, when I fell out with Juric, performances dropped. I had to look at that and be like, ‘Hold on, that doesn’t affect me'.

“If I don’t like the manager and don’t get on with them, it’s my responsibility to go on to the pitch and perform. But it used to be massive for me.

“I’m not saying I don’t with [current manager] Tonda [Eckert] – we really get on – but I’ve taken a step back, look at myself and be like, 'Hold on, you’re here to do a job.’ You’re here to win games of football, and that’s all that matters.”

Downes, who is currently awaiting the EFL’s verdict on Spygate ahead of the Championship play-off final, left Town in Paul Cook’s Demolition Man summer for Swansea in a £1.4 million, subsequently moving on to West Ham before joining the Saints in August 2023, initially on loan.

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