West Ham United have tackled the summer transfer window for the third time in recent weeks, as the Hammers completed a move for Swansea City midfielder Flynn Downes.
Downes joins the Hammers under David Moyes on a five-year deal per reports in The Athletic, with an option for a further year’s extension, in a move that costs the club an initial £9 million which could eventually rise to £14 million.
BREAKING: West Ham have signed Flynn Downes from Swansea City for £9m on a five-year deal, with the option of a further year. #WHUFC
Downes: “It’s a surreal feeling to have joined my boyhood club. I feel like I’m dreaming.” https://t.co/qL5LbNKVmi
— Roshane Thomas (@RoshaneSport) July 7, 2022
A life-long West Ham supporter, the Brentford-native came through the ranks at Ipswich Town and made his first-team debut in 2017 before heading to Wales four years later to become a key performer last term under Russel Martin.
West Ham club chairman David Gold took to Twitter to make known his delight with the deal for Downes, while Hammers headmaster David Moyes spoke about the club’s desire to tap into the talent that exists in the Championship as an affordable way to add quality to the team in a similar vein to the deal that saw Jarrod Bowen join in 2020.
“We are pleased to have signed Flynn and looking forward to bringing him into the group. We think he’s got good energy. We think he’s got a lot of things which we have about our team, which would want to keep and want to add to.”
“We brought Jarrod Bowen from a similar situation at Hull, so we’re always trying to find boys from the Championship who we think are going to step up to become Premier League players. I’m hoping that Flynn does. I think there’s a good chance as he’s got an awful lot of good attributes.”
With West Ham already completing deals for goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from Paris Saint-Germain as well as Stade Rennais’ Moroccan center-back Nayef Aguerd, the club have shelled out close to £50 million this summer in a bid to add depth in quality to make another push for a top-six finish or higher in 2022-23.
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This article was edited by
Conor Laird.
