Should We Sell Flynn Downes And Replace With Freddie Potts This Summer?

welcome back to another babblin ISS video with myself Mike and slof today little bit of a debate here um as we go into the transfer window obviously Southampton have just got promoted congrats to them so it's likely that Flynn DS is going to be wanted uh you know he's been kind of their main man this season Russell Martin's you know actively come out and said you know DS was the best player in the league by far um all of this stuff and yeah he really likes Downs um and then this is obviously coming out that they're going to attempt to make their current loan deal for Downs um Perman now they're a Premier League team which I think we all saw coming so now it's kind of the debate is do we keep Flynn Downs or do we let him go and allow the pathway in for someone like Freddy pots to get promoted within so let's just start with uh Flyn Downs obviously he's had a very good season on loan at Southampton was very integral uh for them getting playoffs and getting back into the Premier League um what do we do now because we've got a new manager obviously DS wasn't played in his preferred position um and Moyes at all you know he was kind of shifted out onto the wing he was playing as a 10 just not who he is so let's just talk about Flyn Downs his ability um and then we can get on to the debate whether we would be keeping him or not yeah so like his first season he played okay did well um in Europe didn't really did do much in the Premier League when he did play he was often played out of position and often basically try to use how Moyes used W PR this year as that defensive foil who can press very well from the front um in that in that 10 position it's basically what w prow did this year and did it to a much higher and efficient more efficient level um and you could argue what speak as well that's not Down's natural position but that's BL B PR his natural position and he played it and executed it to a much higher level uh he's very neat and tidy uh he will definitely keep you rotating he will battle for the ball however there's not much more that's going to come out of FN Downs in my opinion uh he's already 25 uh he's talked about when you listen to how he's talked about in some circles you would think that we're talking about a 21 22 year old who has years left to develop personally I think he's probably almost at his Optimum in terms of uh where his potential can take him or where he can go uh in his career in terms of what where his ability goes and he had a very good season at uh Southampton best player in the league no um had Adam won stayed in the league it wouldn't it it's an unfair comparison because Adam Walton would want that because he's that good and even think after six months he was a far superior player uh but he is integral to Martin Martin had him at Swansea was brilliant player for him in his system and he's been integral again for them this year two goals two assists this he's played a vital role but that's it for me I I have no other emotional attachment to Flyn Downs he's Liv he's lived the West Ham dream right every West Ham Fan's dream he has lived in one season he lived a West Ham dream he got to play for his Club got to play in Europe for his club and he got to lift the trophy he's lived every West Ham Fan's dream but now's time to go thanks very much you've lived your dream and well yeah let's capitalize on how much you're going to be worth for another another manager like this was this was his statistics from this season so this is going to compare with the next 14 so this doesn't compare like Premier League Etc it's kind of Championship League two uh League two in France I should say so yeah I think as you mentioned he's not someone that's going to you know score a crazy amount of goals and assists um he's a very tidy player you know his passing is obviously one of his strongest traits where he keeps it um you know ticking along but it's very risk adverse I say not much progression um as you can kind of see there Progressive passes in comparison to passes completed in that percentile in the middle there is is pretty low and then interceptions as well and tackles is something that he's he's definitely stronger on so I think with Downs it's what type of player do you want in your system I think if you want you know someone that's going to play as an anchor six be very smart and tidy keep the ball um play the simple pass not necessarily make many risks or take any risks that is kind of downs um whether that's enough to be you know one of the top mid DMS in the Premier League I don't think so I think you need to be more than that now as a squad player I wouldn't mind it um but as you say if we're going to bring on to the the pots debate in a minute but if you have the chance now to sell Downs for probably Prime value for a club that absolutely loves him and you know will pay probably above what most of the market value would be now is probably the time to cash in you're unlikely to get this moment again so SLO what would you be looking to do because it's uh as as Mike mentioned he's 25 um he's back at West Ham now he is technically a West Ham player we've got a big rebuild happening this summer would you be looking to cash in and maybe promote within uh with Freddy pots this summer yeah yeah unfortunately so I think it's it's very unfortunate for him as Mike said you know he's lived every West Ham Fan's dream but I think it's very unfortunate for him that he didn't get to play in his favored position his natural position um while under Moyes but that that's not his fault that is entirely down to one person um and I think this season he's done us another great service in really pushing his value and progressing It Forward I think you know had we just sold him off the back of that one season it would have been again 10 million 12 million pounds he's doubled that almost and I think when you look at the typee of players that are around the rumored values and also just the quality of the quality of player you can get for the value I think we should be looking to sell and reinvest um and even if you're just looking at kind of Championship centimeters as Mike mentioned you know Walton is someone we should have been all over but if you look at someone like Hayden Hackley or um even James who we've been linked with from Birmingham um who in my opinion has got potential world class level he's rumored to have been close to a move to Atlanta in January for 10 million Euros so you're talking again about half the cost of of this and potentially a player who is going to be willing to to come in as a squad player but also has shown he can play international level football and you know against modri um in the Wales Croatia game he absolutely dominated their um their three-man Midfield and I think that's the sort of player we should be looking for do you think that do you think we should be looking in the market then to replace Downs or do you think pots could potentially step up and be that that player to replace him I think when we're talking about where we want to be as a football club I think you have to look at this as um the this is the next step you can't just have a core group of players and rely on this small Squad you have to have competition from within and if you're looking at say James and pots well if pots is good enough pots will force his way in and get game time and if James is good enough the same is is is is relevant to him but you can't have sentiment and say we want to have a greater C and so we're therefore just going to play these players they have to you know push and they have to earn their place as well and I think that's what someone like Earth's done it's it's consistently waiting for their opportunity and then taking it when they get it so I personally I would look to be signing another Center midfielder regardless and whatever happens with Downs um we need to replace him and pots can come in if he is going to be able to take the place of of whoever comes in I think that's going to be key because there are still going to be things like injuries Cup competitions that we can rotate into and this needs to be the sort of approach we have next season yeah what about you Mike yeah for me I've said anyway we need need another midfielder regardless um because we have to improve on James wpr and we have to improve on zek we need a player in the middle the park who can sit with Alvarez who's able to progress play Not only possession wise in terms of passing but also with ability to carry something we've lost since we had Dean rice if I turn around and said that we don't need that typ of midfielder I'd be the biggest hypocrite ever I've been saying it even when we had Dean rice that we needed to be sure we brought in a player to replace him and have that player so we need that regardless and essentially that player then takes the spot that you know Calvin Phillips had in the squad right pots can be that player on the on the peripherals but pushing I don't see the point in holding a player who's going to be valued at around 20 million this summer by us on a peripherals of a squad because let's face it he is not going to start over Alvarez he's not going to start over W prow nor is he going to start of with such now now such he's limited technically and DS has a superior technical ability You could argue however such brings you goals and he is brilliant defensively he's not going to start over him and the only other position is in that attacking Midfield he's not going to play there because if Peta gets off and we don't sell him because people were scared off because of all of this stuff pett there if not then you've got mudas who's likely going to be moved to attacking Midfield yeah so he's not going to get in that position so why would you have a player who is essentially doubled his value sit on his b sit on the bench and then depreciate there's no point just for up a squad player and have a feel good because he's a West Ham fan yeah no reason to keep him other than if simple fact matter the best thing what Downs can do for West Ham or the best thing that can be done for us with downs and as harsh as it sounds and this isn't a slight on Downs this is just football economics is the best thing we can do with downs and the best thing he will do for West Ham is be sold for 20 million quit because that's 20 million pounds you can put into midfielder and as SLO said there Jordan James would be linked to would be linked with uh O'Reilly at Celtic who has 30 goals and assists from Midfield this year and is potentially valued at 25 million quid so 5 million pound more gets you a player who scored 30 goals sorry invol 30 goals yes it's Celtic and it's the Scottish League but even if you took half of that that figure you got 15 goals from Midfield you've got you've got keam tham at n you know players rumored to be around 20 million pounds and I just think is another one that we've talked about extens I just see yeah I see I see doubt like I don't see it I I completely agree we need that player that's going to sit next to Alvarez and be Progressive and unlock teams and be someone that can be defensively solid but also takes this Midfield to a new level to be able to progress what Downs is is very safe and very good as a six we don't need like if he's going to be back up to Alvarez okay but when you've got a chance to sell in for 20 million and promote like like you say Freddy pots who can play six that's his natural position right now um we can use that money to improve the other aspects of the Midfield it's not that we're trying to to improve on what Downs brings it's it's we're improving the eight or you know they're slightly Advanced next to Alvarez so if we didn't have like a DM then obviously we'd need to sign a different profile but we're using that money to invest into someone like an A or you know a bit more of an advanced player that can progress like you mentioned so I don't really I see it more that way it's it's using the 20 million to improve other aspects of the Midfield that Flyn Downs doesn't bring um that's just that's just the reality of it so yeah I think this this preseason is going to be big for for pots I think he's he's shown the talent within you know when he was at West Ham uh in the youth team this season obviously he shown it in League one now is the time to prove to LY that you are ready um the same with George Ury the same with I was going to say mub but it's likely he's going to be gone so this is a like when a new manager comes in this is your time to show them and make your stamp you know everyone's in kind of the same boat obviously the more experienced players will have an edge but the manager will be looking at youth you know he said it he's already said it you know we saw in the the behind the scenes I thought it a really really good interview on the West Ham Channel where George 's there behind speaking to LY you know you can tell that he wants to integrate as well it's funny yeah yeah exactly so it's uh I think it's good man I think Tim Steen would have already told you know Lopey what's you know what youth players to look at um and this summer is just a way to reinforce that and as you mentioned if we can get 20 million for Flyn Downs that is an unbelievable deal you know it really is considering that he hasn't really played much for West Ham and his value's gone up that much you know it's a it's a good deal is it ever going to get higher no this point his value is only going to go one way and that's why and I know it sounds harsh and I I meit is it is Harsh because he doesn't deserve to just be shafted out of the club however we're talking about football and football economics and we're saying how much we need to get in if you have a player who's going to sit on your bench who's at the absolute Optimum of what they're going to be for Value was and he's only going to depreciate over the course of the season and then you're basically going to Hope in January someone is desperate for a midfielder and willing to pay the premium rate you could have got based off the back of that it's not going to happen you're like maybe if you're lucky get 15 so you've missed out on 5 million quid that five million quid could be the difference with you know we've just talked about say O'Reilly for instance that5 million pounds all a sudden if we didn't get him then and we wanted to get in January so he didn't move and everything was on we then got to find 10 million P to 5on five milon are a more achievable amount to find so it makes sense to move him on and you know with pots as well and you also when you look at Alvarez Alvarez is a DM isn't safe you know he will do a c turn in the Box he looks to try and progress it he's far more Progressive with the ball than Flyn Downs is and doesn't always like to try and play the simple pass and we'll look to carry DS isn't that type of player and if you want good cdms good cdms throughout history have been players that are brilliant ATT tackles we can also progress it you know L diara was a great example of that melli these are players that have in the past played at Real Madrid and know really high level I'm not saying you know but as a comparison but these were players that were the best cdms because not only could they control the defensive area they could also control the ball and progress it and that's the thing you need to look at and whilst it's still young and early for pots pots for me when I look at him and I've said times is like this hybrid of Dean rice and Michael Carrick you can do the very simple passing that you need but he can also he has that energy defensively to kind of cover he can move the ball and he was Ador like to for a lone player and for a 21 year old to go on loan to a league one team in a very difficult proper man's League to not only win over all of the fans to the point of they've given him the player of the season the fans have given a lone player the player of the season mhm his own teammates season professionals have also said this kid was incredible that's a player who's gone out alone taken the kind of ball by the horns and said I deserve to be given a chance when I come back like with George he's only had you know little cameos but he's taken that moment to kind of make a Big Splash in the pan and that's what pots did and pots has made that point of he's performing like that at 21 yeah one this could be a kid that maybe we develop and the other thing we need to think about is if we get Europe next year if we keep pots in the team and pots does well and develops next year pot is not only a homegrown player for us because if we're 22 he will also be a club trained player which is vitally important for us going forward into those competitions that's why we looked at gr D and Ghana because you need eight homegrown and if you're looking at Europe you of that eight home ground four of them need to be Club trained so you we need to start being a bit more internal in our recruitment and selling a player for 20 million to promote a player from within is incredibly smart because all of a sudden you've got a player you haven't had to buy that you just bring up into your team and you've just made 20 million quid to reinvest in another position that's just like the most simple economics of the whole entire situation if you boil it down take away everything it's that we have a planer from the U team can insert into our team you can develop for next year as well as this and we have 20 million pounds we can sell for a player that is blocking his pathway and gives us the opportunity in which to uh invest elsewhere which we vastly and desperately need yeah exactly no I think that's bottom yeah no I completely I think we're as well like we said with George FY you can kind of tell if they have it or if they don't you coming through the youth play you can just tell if they're a talent uh and it was similar with Freddy pots you know last summer I think we were playing bornwood in preseason friendly and he was he was outstanding you know it's obviously not the level but you can just tell you can just tell if a player is good um next and and can they take it exactly and and he deserves that chance in preseason I'm sure L is going to give it to him so yeah this isn't anything on Downs I think DS is a very solid player I think the move to Southampton is probably best for both parties it's not that it's just selfish on us he's also going to be a regular starter for Southampton and a key component for Russell Martin's team so that's absolutely spot on that's the one thing we haven't talked about is the fact that he can go to a manager who absolutely dors and loves him in a team that he's going to play every week it's a great move for him his career and that's the other thing if if you're him play for West Ham Boyhood Club all of those wonderful things however the other one is I can be a I can actually now say I'm a premier league player because I'm playing week in week out exactly exactly I I think he wouldn't be adverse I think he would quite like to move to Southampton to be honest if he's not going to be part of the plans as much as he loves West Ham so yeah that's our opinion let us know what you think in the comments would you be looking to keep Downs next summer after a pretty impressive spell at Southampton or would you be looking to use that money to invest in the squad elsewhere in other parts of the Midfield and also see the likes of Freddy pots maybe promoted into the and integrated into the squad a little bit more H for L L's first season at West Ham so yeah make sure to leave a like on the video If you enjoyed subscribe to the channel as always and Lads until next time come on you WI [Music]