Club insider weighs up the pros and cons of West Ham keeping Flynn Downes vs selling him.

With the appointment of Julen Lopetegui comes a lot of unknowns. A lot of West Ham fans don’t really know what to expect from his style of play, no one knows whether he will be an upgrade on David Moyes and no one knows what players he will take a liking to.

Arguably the player with the most questions is Flynn Downes. During his first season at the club, he didn’t get much of an opportunity to prove himself, but he looked solid whenever he did play. The Hammers put him out on loan to Southampton where he was one of, if not, the best midfielders in the Championship.

Understandably, following their promotion back to the Premier League. The Saints are desperate to keep hold of him, but West Ham haven’t quite decided what the future holds for the midfielder. To make things easier for fans though, Claret and Hugh gave pros and cons for him staying and leaving.

The pro they gave for him staying were: “Downes returns with valuable experience from a successful promotion campaign. He understands the club’s culture and could integrate seamlessly. and West Ham saves money on acquiring a new player.” While the cons were: “There’s no guarantee he automatically slots back into the starting lineup. West Ham might need to adjust their tactics to accommodate him.”

On the other hand, there are some serious pros to him being allowed to leave. “West Ham can recoup a significant transfer fee, potentially funding other signings. Southampton gets a proven player who contributed heavily to their promotion.” They do confess though that “finding a suitable replacement for Downes could be challenging and expensive. West Ham loses a player with experience and potential.”

Considering the club needs homegrown players and the next generation of individuals who can carry on the West Ham way, keeping Downes may be a good option. Unless Southampton give us an offer we can’t refuse, then surely it’s best to keep hold of him. As others have pointed out, if he wasn’t a West Ham player and he performed the way he did it at Southampton then the club would almost certainly be looking at signing him.