According to The Athletic, Flynn Downes decided to join West Ham instead of Crystal Palace following a meeting with Patrick Vieira.
What’s the story?
Well, it is said that the south Londoners met with the 23-year-old before his £9m move to east London.
The Athletic believe Downes had a meeting with Vieira, but felt that the Frenchman was unaware of his strengths and also did not know his best position.
Roshane Thomas adds that the midfielder – a boyhood West Ham fan – could not contain his excitement after learning of interest from David Moyes.
The Athletic also state that Crystal Palace actually offered Swansea more money for Downes than West Ham.
However, such was his desperation to join the Irons, Downes managed to convince the Swans to accept a lower offer, before Joe Allen returned to the Liberty Stadium as his replacement.
Wolves, Southampton and Leeds also sent scouts to watch the England Under-20 international last season.
So far this season, Downes has only played one minute of Premier League football.
Crystal Palace surely knew about Flynn Downes
In our view, this information seems odd.
The Eagles had tracked Downes since his days at Ipswich, where a handful of bids from the south Londoners actually led to the midfielder handing in a transfer request.
That interest clearly continued after Swansea managed to strike a deal with Ipswich months after that saga, leading to another push for Downes.
Dougie Freedman – Director of Football at Selhurst Park – has overseen both pursuits, so he and the rest of the recruitment team at Crystal Palace, including Vieira, surely had their homework done on the player.
Perhaps Crystal Palace failed to get their admiration and understanding of him across effectively during the meeting – either that, or Downes was so determined to join West Ham, he simply had no interest in what Vieira had to say.
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