Crystal Palace will only have themselves to blame if Flynn Downes joins Leeds United and enjoys a remarkable rise a la Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling at Elland Road.
According to The Times, Leeds are eyeing up a summer deal for the Swansea City playmaker, viewing the former England U20 international as a potential successor for the much-admired Kalvin Phillips at the heart of Jesse Marsch’s engine room.
Now, if Crystal Palace had their way, Downes would already be a player with a season of Premier League football under his belt. Palace made a pair of bids for the Brentwood-born 23-year-old in the summer of 2020 after all.
But, while The Eagles are hardly one of the top-flight’s biggest spenders, Ipswich Town were understandably bemused when Crystal Palace refused even to cross the £2 million barrier for a player they obviously valued highly enough to make a number of offers for.
“The money (offered by Palace) wasn’t good,” then-Ipswich boss Paul Lambert explained at the time. “The money was nowhere near good enough. The bid itself was absolutely nowhere near.”
This was not a classic case of a club standing firm and refusing to bow to pressure.
Lambert made it clear that, if Palace had made an offer that the League One giants deemed acceptable, then Downes would be plying his trade at Selhurst Park right now.
“If they came in with an offer that was incredible and Flynn went, then it would be brilliant for Flynn,” adds the former Wolves and Aston Villa boss.
“I’m not going to sit here and deny a young kid the chance to go into the Premier League or anything like that. But the money had to be right for the football club.
“This club can’t stand in a young kid’s way if the money’s really, really good.”
Is Flynn Downes heading to the Premier League at last?
Crystal Palace may point out that Ipswich accepted a bid of just £1.5 million from Swansea City in August 2021. A fee that was actually less than the second offer the Eagles made some 12 months earlier.
But Downes had just one year left on his Ipswich contract at the time. And the Tractor Boys had little choice but to accept. £1.5 million is not much, at least in modern football terms, but it’s still better than nothing.
How much Leeds would have to pay to sign Downes, after just one highly impressive season in South Wales, remains to be seen.
But if one of the EFL’s most technically gifted midfielders blossoms into a top-flight star alongside, or perhaps in place of, Kalvin Phillips, then Palace may be wishing they could turn back the clock.
“Incredible,” Swansea manager Russell Martin said of Downes recently, highlighting the attributes that make the 23-year-old an ideal addition to Marsch’s hard-running midfield.
“It’s difficult to single people out, but he does the dirty work perfectly well. He enables other people to do their roles brilliantly.
“He has an excellent willingness to learn, his attitude, his attention to detail and how quickly he learns is outstanding. He’s playing in a completely different role to what he used to play at his previous club.”
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