A WIDE smile flashed across the face of Ryan Manning when the Daily Echo asked the defender about the arrival of Flynn Downes.

In fact, to put it as he did, Manning is "buzzing" that the 24 year old has joined Southampton on loan from West Ham.

That should come as no surprise. The duo previously played together during Downes' one and only season in a Swansea City shirt.

While the Swans only managed a 15th-place finish during the 2021-22 campaign, Manning became well acquainted with what the new Saints midfielder is capable of.

"I think he will add a lot to the group," he told the Daily Echo. "With Flynn, you just need to look at his record of coming to work with the gaffer at Swansea.

"After one season he then made a £12 million move to West Ham in the Premier League. That says a lot about the type of player he is.

“It’s massive for the club to get someone like him in having gone to the Premier League and experienced it for a year and winning the Europa Conference League.

"He’s a brilliant player and an unbelievable professional. I’m buzzing to see a familiar face come through the door.

“He’s brilliant (off the pitch). Flynn gets on with everyone, he’s a good lad.

"He also does weird stuff like eating raw chicken liver,” Manning laughed, in reference to the bout of food poisoning that delayed Downes' arrival at St Mary's. 

“I’ve been battering him for a few days about that. But he’s a brilliant lad and I don’t think he will take long to settle in at all."

Downes arrives as Southampton sit in fifth place following their first three Championship fixtures.

Speaking after their opening day 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday, Manning noted that the victory had set the benchmark for the rest of Saints' performances this season.

Since then they secured a dramatic late 4-4 draw at home against Norwich City before earning a valuable three points in injury time against Plymouth Argyle last weekend.

“We’ve picked up seven points from three games, which is a good return, although we would have preferred to have nine," the six-time Irish international continued.

“From that opening game, we have done quite well. We’ve had three late goals in three straight games which I suppose shows that late goals are part of the game plan. 

Daily Echo:

“When you keep the ball for that long and you work the opposite teams that hard, opportunities will become more frequent at the end of games.

“We have been clinical enough to take a few of them. We even had a few opportunities in the Norwich game after we had equalised late on. 

“There's been loads of positives to build on since (the opener), but it also shows that there is still so much to work on. 

“There’s so much detail to take in and to learn, but to have got seven points from the first three games just shows how quickly the boys have taken it on board.”

Manning arrived at Saints earlier in the summer having managed 15 goal contributions last season at Swansea.

While he is still waiting to notch his first goal contribution of this campaign, the full-back has created nine chances thus far – the second-highest amount at Southampton behind Will Smallbone’s 10.

Always looking to improve, he is targeting more goals and assists this season, as well as aiming to help his new side keep more clean sheets, having failed to do so in their opening three games.

"We really need to make that a priority this season too because clean sheets are really a minimum.

"I’ve really enjoyed getting into it and playing the competitive games. I’m just hoping that as time goes on the performances will get better and everyone as a collective will improve."

Now 27 years old, with nine seasons in the Championship under his belt, Manning is one fo the more senior players in the Southampton dressing room.

That level of experience had led to him not allowing his early mistakes in a Saints shirt – his slip against Plymouth and heavy touch in the box against Norwich – to play on his mind.

“It’s part and parcel of the game. For every goal that is scored there is someone who is at fault somewhere. 

“They used to say that three mistakes lead to a goal, but they are just a part of the game. 

“I’ve been around long enough to know that you get things that will bounce in your favour and you’ll get things that don’t. 

“It’s just about continuing to do the right thing. You have to train properly, continue learning and grafting to get better and things will come good. 

“You just have to get on with it and make sure you are doing the right things Monday to Friday so that when Saturday comes, it’ll look after itself.”