It was an all of a sudden moment for Flynn Downes. Seemingly destined for a transfer to Crystal Palace something happened to unsettle the balance of that transfer. We always pride ourselves on our prudence and awareness to look beyond the basics here at Swansea Independent, so that’s exactly what we did.

To delve deeper some would say, but definitely to look at all the information available.

Whilst doing our ‘due diligence’ yesterday on the extremely quick move by West Ham to intervene in Flynn Downes availability it was important to ask why ? Or maybe even how ? Links in football are very much about trust and having a track record of honesty and integrity, and that’s where this all started.

West Ham appointed ex QPR boss Mark Warburton to their first team coaching staff less than two weeks ago. He made some bold claims too. Replacing Stuart Pearce he said “You’ve got to challenge yourself and the chance to work in the Premier League with outstanding players and an outstanding manager and staff and understand everything about the Premier League is a big learning curve. I’ve always been learning all my life in terms of working in the city and coming to football later, and you’ve got to keep on learning and challenging yourself and pushing the boundaries.”

Warburton made it very clear he was going to change numerous things within the coaching set up to improve the hammers. “In terms of West Ham, which is a top-ten Premier League team pushing hard for top-six, you have to say: ‘Right, what do West Ham do really well? Would it in any way be negatively impacted, but at the same time can I add something to the attacking side of the play because the quality of players we have here?’ Look at the quality of players in the squad and the manager is keen to add to that as well, so I’ve got to add something to that with my attacking philosophy, but make sure it’s never to the detriment of what has been done already.”

Mark Warburton is one of the links to Flynn Downes and West Ham United.

When at QPR Warburton was well known for his employment of the Wasserman group, one of the largest and most successful agencies in the world. They boast offices across the globe and any image of seedy agents with brown paper bags is possibly a bit dated. Their football division is the reason why Warburton utilised their services so much whilst at QPR. It’s something the majority of football clubs do. The client profile at the agency is massive, and they look after the interests of Flynn Downes.

With that picture becoming clearer, there always has to be more links.

Having your daughter working for Wasserman is not so much helpful but practical as a point of contact. Client privacy is huge. Elisha Warburton, Mark’s daughter manages Player Services at Wasserman specialising in the ‘Lifestyle Management of High Net Worth individuals and their families’ She currently looks after thirty five players and families and in her words ‘I have close relationships with each individual taking away any stress that they may have off the pitch. I manage every aspect of their life, with the service being extremely individualistic’

With the Wasserman team looking after the interests of Flynn Downes at Swansea, and Mark Warburton recently appointed as first team coach at West Ham the picture is now far more clear. Mark has the contacts, the knowledge and the foresight to spot a gem when he see’s one. Flynn Downes is that gem, his Wasserman links from the past and currently are in plain sight. That’s why Flynn is as close as ever to being a West Ham player.

With Downes medical rumoured as now ‘part complete’ and the rest to be done over the next twenty four hours West Ham have a real gem on their hands, and Swansea City have at last obtained some financial breathing space.

We hope you enjoyed our insight in to this latest transfer move.

Update.
West Ham have stated that David Moyes ‘scouted’ Flynn Downes. We referenced in this article the fact that there is a link regards West Ham, Wasserman and Mark Warburton, and his interest in Downes for some time. West Ham obviously had to come out and say something as reading between the lines there could be a form of conflict of interest. And of course we don’t doubt that. However, if anyone genuinely thinks that Flynn Downes being at Wasserman and Wasserman having direct links all over this transfer they either can’t read an informative article or are just plain stupid.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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