What West Ham loanee Flynn Downes adds to Southampton's midfield

In the 74th minute, and with Swansea already two goals ahead, Downes charged back towards his own goal to wrestle the ball from the towering Kieffer Moore.

Having regained possession, he shifted the ball past the onrushing Joe Ralls before unleashing Ethan Laird (who is out of frame) down the right wing with a scud missile-esque long pass.

Upon reaching the byline Laird cut the ball inside to Jamie Paterson, who set up Jack Bidwell for an easy close-range header.

In a matter of seconds, Downes was able to turn a potential Cardiff chance into a Swansea goal.

It's moments such as these which has made Russell Martin so eager to link up with the 24 year old once more.

Downes has joined Southampton on a season-long loan from Europa Conference League winners West Ham. 

For Saints supporters, there is a sense of excitement surrounding the arrival of the Hammers' midfield, particularly after their dramatic 4-4 draw with Norwich City.

Without a defensive-minded midfielder on the pitch, Saints were often overrun on the counterattack during the first half against Martin's former club.

While the introduction of Shea Charles after the break stemmed Norwich's fast breaks, the series of images below showcase the issue during the first 45 minutes.

Ashley Barnes wins a flick on to Josh Sargent, which totally bypasses Southampton's midfield of Will Smallbone (who has been drawn towards the ball), Charly Alcaraz and Stuart Armstrong (who is out of frame).

The vacant space between Saints' midfield and defence allows the American international to dive at Southampton's backline before feeding Onel Hernandez on the left.

Hernandez breaks into the box and has options to his right, but delays his pass for too long, which allows Smallbone to recover and clear the ball.

Had Norwich's Cuban attacker been more decisive in the final third, Saints could have gone behind inside three minutes.

“I think we would have conceded less goals if (Downes) was playing," Martin told BBC Radio Solent after Saints' 4-4 draw with the Canaries over a week ago.

"He's aggressive, athletic, really brave with and without the ball and really demanding, from himself and his teammates.

"(He's) a really good footballer and that’s why West Ham paid a lot of money for him.

“He built up a really brilliant relationship with us and obviously had worked with Gilly (Matt Gill) at Ipswich before that, and that’s the reason we could sign him at Swansea.

“An outstanding player, a favourite with the supporters and players at Swansea and I expect him to be exactly the same here."

While he hasn't had a pre-season here, his previous experience playing under the former Scotland international should hold him in good stead.

Downes joined the Swans from Ipswich Town in the 2021 summer transfer window and quickly garnered a strong reputation as one of the best midfielders in the second tier.

His performances in that season saw him linked with a move to Southampton before completing a £12 million switch to West Ham.

A versatile player, Downes played most of his 39 games at Swansea in the double-pivot alongside Matt Grimes.

Entrusted as the deeper of the two midfielders, Downes' role was to cut out opposition attacks while supporting his centre-backs' attempts to play out from the back.

Across the two previous seasons, he has averaged 7.3 defensive duels per 90 minutes, with a success rate of 66.15 per cent. 

On top of that, he has made 8.5 recoveries per 90 minutes played in the Premier League, Championship and Europa Conference League.

That level of defensive acumen saw him deployed in the back three when required at Swansea. Even when he was playing in midfield, it wasn't too uncommon to see him drop into the back line to progress the ball.

Downes' total of 68.58 passes per 90 minutes was only bettered by his Swansea teammates Matt Grimes (84.45) and Kyle Naughton (79.31) during the 2021-22 Championship season.

That total is considerably higher than the 35.16 passes per 90 minutes that Smallbone, who played as the deepest midfielder against Norwich, managed on loan at Stoke City last season.

However, it should be pointed out that the Irish international has already showcased his ability to be a high-volume passer this season - his 144 passes attempted against Sheffield Wednesday is evidence of that.

Downes was also one of the most productive ball-progressing passers midfielders during his time in SA1.

His 54.18 meters progressed per loss of possession was only bettered by André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, now at Napoli, when compared with other midfielders.

His 5.55 progressive passes per 90 does leave plenty of room for improvement, however. 

"I'm running out of superlatives for Flynn," Martin noted when working with Downes at Swansea.

"He came from League One, he was a really important signing for us. We were really supported by the owners with that signing, and I think it's been justified because he's one of our biggest assets.

Flynn Downes pass map from Swansea 4-0 win over Cardiff City (61 of 64 passes completed) (Image: WyScout)

"He has all the ingredients he needs to play at the very top. He knows how I feel about him and how we feel about him as a coaching staff and what his ceiling can be. I think he can go and play wherever he wants eventually."

Downes arrives at St Mary's from West Ham in the wake of James Ward-Prowse's transfer in the opposite direction.

The Brentwood-born midfielder has some tools to replace the Ward-Prowse as a player, his knowledge of Martin's system ranking as the primary reason, but what is more difficult is replacing Ward-Prowse the person.

Perhaps that is too difficult of a task to ask of Downes as he wasn't raised in the 'Southampton way' and doesn't have a 20-year history with the club - but he does have his own set of leadership qualities.

He wore the captain's armband at Ipswich Town when he was just 20 years old. He also donned the armband in the absence of Matt Grimes when Swansea faced Saints back in early 2022.

"Without attracting too much attention to him for other people, Flynn, just the way he is as a boy, every day, the way he trains, how respectful he is towards his team-mates, the way he conducts himself, he is an incredible character," Martin added back in 2022

"That's the whole point of trying to play the way we want to play bring the best version of people out. He suits what we're doing incredibly well.

"We have a lot of good players, some of them are suited more to the style of play than others. He certainly is that. He's been incredible."