Stuart Pearce believes £12m West Ham player isn’t good enough to start next season

Wed 26 July 2023 13:15, UK

Stuart Pearce has admitted he’s not sure West Ham United midfielder Flynn Downes is good enough to start regularly for the club.

TalkSPORT, Pearce was talking about his old side’s movements in the transfer window so far.

Much of the discussion was centred on potential incomings considering West Ham have yet to make a senior signing this summer.

David Moyes has plenty of money at his disposal now after the sale of Declan Rice.

The Hammers need to find a way of replacing him, which is going to be very difficult.

They’ve been linked with plenty of midfielders, including Joao Palhinha, Conor Gallagher and James Ward-Prowse.

Unless West Ham sign more than one of these targets – which financially is possible – they’ll be paired with a current member of the squad.

Much of Declan Rice’s spell in midfield at West Ham was spent with Tomas Soucek.

The towering Czech had a mixed campaign last season, not hitting the heights of his 10-goal campaign back in 2020/21.

However, Pearce has suggested that West Ham can’t replace Rice with Flynn Downes as he isn’t good enough yet.

The midfielder was only handed cameos last season, starting just seven league matches.

Pearce unsure about West Ham midfielder Downes

Speaking about Moyes’s midfield conundrum, : “I think West Ham will definitely need a holding midfield player of type to go alongside Flynn Downes.

“Flynn has not proved that he’s a starter week in, week out at West Ham and going to be good enough to be of that standard as yet.

“There’s certainly a lot of expectation in the crowd that he’s going to be good enough to do so.

“But they need a holding midfielder and probably a couple of other positions to fill as well.

“And if you’ve only got a certain budget, you cannot put all that money into one position.”

Although Pearce is unsure about Downes right now, he never got a real chance at West Ham last season.

Rice couldn’t be dropped for league matches, limiting Downes’s appearances to domestic cups and the early rounds of the Conference League.

Moyes was impressed with the 24-year-old’s progression last season and he’s reportedly determined to replace the England international next season.

Whether he’s given that chance once West Ham’s transfer business is done is another matter.