James Ward-Prowse travelling to London for West Ham United medical, Flynn Downes to Southampton on loan

James Ward-Prowse is travelling to London ahead of a medical on Friday after West Ham agreed a swap deal with Southampton, according to David Ornstein.

Writing on his personal Twitter account (10 August), The Athletic journalist reports that the Saints captain is due to undergo a medical on Friday, with Hammers midfielder Flynn Downes going in the other direction on a season-long loan deal.

West Ham have agreed to pay £30m to sign the 28-year-old as David Moyes looks to replace Declan Rice ahead of the upcoming season after his £105m move to Arsenal.

“James Ward-Prowse set to travel to London this evening and do medical Friday before joining West Ham from Southampton,” he wrote.

“Flynn Downes expected to go other way on season-long loan – not done but talks heading in that direction.”

Interesting

The deal that has seen Edson Alvarez arrive at the London Stadium is complete, and Ward-Prowse coming in means two players replace the one that has left so far.

But allowing Downes to leave once again leaves the club short on numbers in midfield, especially with the opening game of the season less than 48 hours away and Alvarez not having a pre-season or training session with the team yet.

Tomas Soucek and Conor Coventry will be the only midfield options available for the game, unless Moyes opts to use Lucas Paqueta in a deeper role despite his current situation being up in the air with Manchester City’s interest strong.

We need to bolster the squad and not go like-for-like with replacements if we want to progress this season, so maybe that suggest there will be another addition coming in before the end of the window.

It’s certainly one to keep an eye on, but thankfully it seems as though the Ward-Prowse deal is finally done.

 

READ MORE: Chelsea’s £48m bid for Roméo Lavia is rejected

Chelsea’s attempts to hijack Liverpool’s move for long-term target Roméo Lavia hit a snag on Thursday,as Southampton rejected the West London club’s £48-million bid.

According to Paul Joyce in the Times, the south coast club turned down the offer reportedly worth £2 million more than the third offer submitted by the Reds so far this summer.

Southampton seemingly won’t budge from their £50-million valuation for the holding midfielder – a figure Liverpool are reluctant to pay, given the 19-year-old’s lack of experience at first-team level.

Last season, which was his first at the top level, saw the Belgian make only 29 Premier League appearances.

That said, he has already received his first cap for the national team, so his ceiling is clearly high.

COMPARISONS WITH BAJCETIC

Interestingly, Joyce also explained that Liverpool’s reluctance to pay £50 million for Lavia “is not about a lack of funds”. Rather, he says, it’s “about value for a player who is a year older than Stefan Bajectic”.

Bajcetic, who impressed during his breakthrough campaign, has played only 18 fewer Premier League games than Lavia.

The young Spaniard is currently the only dedicated holding midfielder in Jürgen Klopp’s squad. However, he fights a battle to be fit in time for the league opener at Chelsea this Sunday, and his place will likely go to one of either Alexis Mac Allister or Curtis Jones.