At one point it actually looked like he would be an important player for us, and he really impressed during his first few cameo appearances for the Hammers from the bench.

However, things went downhill for Flynn Downes at West Ham the longer the season went on.

He was swiftly moved on to Southampton on loan in the summer of 2023, before joining them on a permanent £18 million deal 12 months later (The Athletic).

Downes began this season with Southampton in fine form, in spite of his side’s struggles as a team.

On paper he has a lot of attributes needed to succeed in the Premier League.

However, one thing he does lack is the technical ability needed to really flourish.

And now it seems like he’s been found wanting when it comes to his attitude as well.

Things haven’t worked out how many expected they would for Downes at St Mary’s.

The hard-working midfielder has now been banished from Ivan Juric’s squad, after unprofessional behaviour in the January transfer window.

Saints boss Ivan Juric has dropped Downes from the first-team squad after his behaviour following a failed move to Ipswich Town late on in the January window.

When asked about Downes’ situation, Juric didn’t hold back in his criticism of the 26-year-old, as quoted by the Daily Echo:

“It’s a bad situation, I think that sometimes when a market window happens, things that you don’t want happen.“

“We had very good behaviour of lots of players that have offers, I can say that Jan Bednarek had the biggest offers from one big club, and he stayed training.

“(He stayed) playing the games, and then the club decided not to sell him, and sometimes the players don’t behave very good.

“Now we have to think about how to resolve the problem, but I have to say I was a little bit disappointed.

“It’s not unusual. They do not do things correctly like you have to do. What is important, is to put on the T-shirt, go to the training and train hard.

“Then you can disagree with the coach, or with the club, or with everybody, what is important is training hard, playing hard, and then everything is resolvable.“

I have to say, this has really surprised me.

Flynn Downes struck me as a consummate professional during his time with West Ham.

He mostly had to make do with a place on the bench during his debut season with the Hammers, but he carried on without complaint and worked as hard as he could.

The midfielder has clearly changed since moving down to the south coast though.

He has obviously not made a great impression on Southampton manager Ivan Juric.

And his future at St Mary’s must now be seriously in doubt.