Damion Downs - Official: Signs Four Year Contract

[LuckyNumber7]

27 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I saw 15 million mentioned and I would have hoped we would at least have asked the question. I am aware that signing Championship goalscorers is difficult, I wouldn't expect otherwise. 

I'm also aware that there is an element of a gamble with every signing but it's why I said "less of a gamble" in my post. I'm not sure what you're arguing with me about here. 

Not really arguing, just saying I don't think Sargent is realistic.

Got the £20M figure from here. Sainz one I'd have liked but again realistically out of our reach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx23d1dn38qo

[davefizzy14]

I like the look of this signing. Strong, powerful and quick striker. Welcome onboard Damion Downs 😊

[leesaint88]

29 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I saw 15 million mentioned and I would have hoped we would at least have asked the question. I am aware that signing Championship goalscorers is difficult, I wouldn't expect otherwise. 

I'm also aware that there is an element of a gamble with every signing but it's why I said "less of a gamble" in my post. I'm not sure what you're arguing with me about here. 

Already reported Norwich would only sell to the Premier League or abroad. Non starter that one..

[sockeye]

Seems like a decent signing with a lot of promising attributes. Let's hope he hits the ground running!

[goodymatt]

I have a good feeling about this one, to be joint top scorer when only making 13 starts for a title winning team in the German equivalent of the championship is quite impressive. He offers many attributes we’ve not had since Pelle. Spors and Lederer know what they are buying too, it’s not as big a gamble as it first seems IMO. Looking forward to seeing him play for us and hopefully it turns out to be a key signing. I echo the thoughts that we have a lot of experience and goals in our side at championship level, I’m hoping the ones that stay will compliment well with Downs.

[gio1saints]

I don’t think there’s much downside buying a 20 year old player who will likely be in the US World Cup squad - and as their #9. He scores two or three for Saints early doors, does same with some international goals for the US in the preliminary friendlies then performs well @worldcup and that £8m will become £30-£40M in no time. 
If he’s no good he’s still only young and we can get some or all of our money back at least by selling him to an American or German team. Difficult not to say this is good business all round by SR. 

[Weston Super Saint]

3 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

 does same with some international goals for the US in the preliminary friendlies then performs well @worldcup and that £8m will become £30-£40M in no time. 
 

🤣🤣🤣

Haven't we thought the same about endless players who have also been young, hungry and guaranteed to improve.

I hope he does well, but I'm mindful of our recent track record.

[Saint_lambden]

Excited about this one. He's a decent finisher, movement is great and can stretch a backline which we've been without for a long time (Ross Stewart shows flashes of it but isn't as mobile). Got plenty of potential too. 

If we can sign more in this and the Quashie mould, we'll do very well this year. 

[Cricketphilly]

Down Downs, Damien Downs,  to the tune of the Quo classic? I am open to suggestions. 

[Tom57]

This is going to be very confusing for the commentators if we keep Flynn and play him with Damion lots 😂 I'm quite happy with this signing though

[suewhistle]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

I prefer Downs to Agyamang from the clips I have seen on youtube (that's all i have go on as not seen either in a full game yet), but it will be interesting to see how they compare.

I've only seen the Downs clip, but I respect your judgement. Sometimes talking about players we forget that it's a team game and I noted that he seemed quite good in bringing colleagues into play in a way that we've missed since Che left, if not before. Hopefully his physicality will aid others, and in that respect he can't do worse than TP.

[goodymatt]

10 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

🤣🤣🤣

Haven't we thought the same about endless players who have also been young, hungry and guaranteed to improve.

I hope he does well, but I'm mindful of our recent track record.

Interesting to look into our recent track record buying young players:

Mara - €11.5m, sold for €12m

Sulemana - €25m, sold for €17.5m up to €21.5m

SAA - free, sold for €8.5m

Charles - £10m, worth more now.

Edozie - €8m, would likely get a slight profit.

Meghoma - free, sold for €6m

ABK - €12m, received €2m loan fee so far, €12.5m sale fell through. We want €10m to more or less break even but could lose €5m or so here.

Larios - €7m, likely to lose quite a bit of this fee.

Fernandes - €15m, will go for treble that.

Lavia - £12m initial but €22m including sell on, sold for €62m

Livramento - £5m but €26m including sell on, sold for €38m

Bazunu - €14m, one we might lose on if we sold now.

THB - £20m, worth at least that today.

Edwards - £3m worth more now

Wood - £3m, expect a small profit.

Quarshie and Downs are the next ‘gambles’ but are well informed by Lederer and Spors.

Have I missed anyone?

Some of these talents have been very good for our first team like Lavia, Tino, THB and Matty, but one thing for sure is they aren’t too risky in terms of financial investments. We are definitely up on the youth gambles. Players like Carillo £19m (sold for nothing), Onuachu, £16m (sold for £6m) are the bigger types of gambles that have cost us big time. ABK looked initially to be a potentially big sale but injuries have broke his mentality. Bazunu probably the most frustrating of the young buys, we expected more and his return has been statistically awful.

[Weston Super Saint]

4 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Interesting to look into our recent track record buying young players:

Mara - €11.5m, sold for €12m

Sulemana - €25m, sold for €17.5m up to €21.5m

SAA - free, sold for €8.5m

Charles - £10m, worth more now.

Edozie - €8m, would likely get a slight profit.

Meghoma - free, sold for €6m

ABK - €12m, received €2m loan fee so far, €12.5m sale fell through. We want €10m to more or less break even but could lose €5m or so here.

Larios - €7m, likely to lose quite a bit of this fee.

Fernandes - €15m, will go for treble that.

Lavia - £12m initial but €22m including sell on, sold for €62m

Livramento - £5m but €26m including sell on, sold for €38m

Bazunu - €14m, one we might lose on if we sold now.

THB - £20m, worth at least that today.

Edwards - £3m worth more now

Wood - £3m, expect a small profit.

Quarshie and Downs are the next ‘gambles’ but are well informed by Lederer and Spors.

Have I missed anyone?

Some of these talents have been very good for our first team like Lavia, Tino, THB and Matty, but one thing for sure is they aren’t too risky in terms of financial investments. We are definitely up on the youth gambles. Players like Carillo £19m (sold for nothing), Onuachu, £16m (sold for £6m) are the bigger types of gambles that have cost us big time. ABK looked initially to be a potentially big sale but injuries have broke his mentality. Bazunu probably the most frustrating of the young buys, we expected more and his return has been statistically awful.

The moral of the tale is we have to put up with an awful lot of shit before we polish one of the turds - oh and a couple of relegations thrown in!

[Miltonaggro]

5 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

The moral of the tale is we have to put up with an awful lot of shit before we polish one of the turds - oh and a couple of relegations thrown in!

That's the crux perhaps, it's great signing these talented youngsters with potential, but the safety net is to have a solid,  committed and reliable first team squad so that this potential can be fully realised.  I hope that we will significantly add to that goal in the coming weeks. 

[goodymatt]

13 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

That's the crux perhaps, it's great signing these talented youngsters with potential, but the safety net is to have a solid,  committed and reliable first team squad so that this potential can be fully realised.  I hope that we will significantly add to that goal in the coming weeks. 

Fully agree with this. The financial risks in terms of player trading are low with high potential ceilings. However, we have seen high financial impact due to 2 relegations.

A balanced squad that provides the right environment for young talent to flourish is the preference/ideal but harder to build that from our current championship position. 

[gio1saints]

56 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

🤣🤣🤣

Haven't we thought the same about endless players who have also been young, hungry and guaranteed to improve.

I hope he does well, but I'm mindful of our recent track record.

I did not say or imply he was young hungry and guaranteed to improve. You’ve imagined it. 

I simply set out circumstances that might work in our favour from his signing before then saying that if he was rubbish we might still get some or all our money back. I had no idea it was so hilarious. 

[Charlie Wayman]

Should I have heard of him? 

Well, it makes a change from saying "I've never heard of him"

[Saint86]

2 hours ago, disconnect said:

Got a good feeling about this guy, think he could be a very decent signing for us, and finally an athletic powerful frontman that we probably havent had since Pelle left.

I'm the same. From what i've seen of his clips he's already got a good skillset and attributes to be a target man / deep lying link striker - with mobility and creativity, but one who is likely versatile to also play off the shoulder of a defender and into the channels. He's clearly being signed to fit a role within the system for me, which is key for a new manager and a change of style, and he's 20 and really can be expected to improve unless we manage him appallingly. The deal is relatively cheap and has a lot of potential upsides to it. We still have AA, Stewart, Archer, BBD on the books - and now downs has joined (i hope he is replacing BBD personally). Its a very good depth selection of depth, quality, and type of players for what is likely to be a 50game season against a variety of different opponents. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Saint86

[Verbal]

59 minutes ago, Cricketphilly said:

Down Downs, Damien Downs,  to the tune of the Quo classic? I am open to suggestions. 

You may not be when you hear them

[HKsaint]

Hope that he is not another Brereton 

[CSA96]

3 minutes ago, HKsaint said:

Hope that he is not another Brereton 

Another 14 to 22 goal a season Championship striker?

[revolution saint]

50 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Interesting to look into our recent track record buying young players:

Mara - €11.5m, sold for €12m

Sulemana - €25m, sold for €17.5m up to €21.5m

SAA - free, sold for €8.5m

Charles - £10m, worth more now.

Edozie - €8m, would likely get a slight profit.

Meghoma - free, sold for €6m

ABK - €12m, received €2m loan fee so far, €12.5m sale fell through. We want €10m to more or less break even but could lose €5m or so here.

Larios - €7m, likely to lose quite a bit of this fee.

Fernandes - €15m, will go for treble that.

Lavia - £12m initial but €22m including sell on, sold for €62m

Livramento - £5m but €26m including sell on, sold for €38m

Bazunu - €14m, one we might lose on if we sold now.

THB - £20m, worth at least that today.

Edwards - £3m worth more now

Wood - £3m, expect a small profit.

Quarshie and Downs are the next ‘gambles’ but are well informed by Lederer and Spors.

Have I missed anyone?

Some of these talents have been very good for our first team like Lavia, Tino, THB and Matty, but one thing for sure is they aren’t too risky in terms of financial investments. We are definitely up on the youth gambles. Players like Carillo £19m (sold for nothing), Onuachu, £16m (sold for £6m) are the bigger types of gambles that have cost us big time. ABK looked initially to be a potentially big sale but injuries have broke his mentality. Bazunu probably the most frustrating of the young buys, we expected more and his return has been statistically awful.

Cheers for this.  For the sake of balance it would be interesting to see a list of recent experienced players we've bought.  Off the top of my head, I guess Downs, BBD, Stewart, Taylor, Manning, Ramsdale, Sugawara?, Aribo, Lallana, Wallcot, Bree, Onuachu, Orsic, Fraser.  I'm sure there will be others I've forgotten.

[Oh no Mick Mills]

Whilst off last week I watched the full 70 mins he played in Koln v Kaiserslautern on YouTube. 

Koln won 4 nil. 

He didn't score but had a decent assist for the 2nd goal. 

Apart from that and a couple of passes/layoffs he did very little else. 

On two occasions his first time passes went straight to the opponents and one was a perfect through ball that Kaiserslautern should have scored. 

Not going to pass judgement on him based on one game but from that first impression I was rather underwhelmed. 

More Mara than Che Adams going by that game.

[Nolan]

just because its fun to see if AI is any good or not, I asked ChatGPT to select one Premier League player who Damion Downs is most comparable to.

we'll find out how fitting the suggestion is throughout the season, but its answer...

A very fitting and realistic Premier League comparison for Damion Downs is:

---

🪞 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)

Aerially dominant, athletic, and press-capable striker with room for growth technically.

Why Calvert-Lewin is a Strong Comparison:

Attribute	Dominic Calvert-Lewin	Damion Downs
Height & Build	6′2″ (187 cm), strong frame	6′3–6′4″ (192 cm), tall and athletic
Aerial Ability	Top-tier aerial threat	Very strong aerial potential
Work Rate / Pressing	Active in pressing setups	Developed in Bundesliga's pressing culture
Finishing	One-touch & instinctive	Clean, composed finisher (youth level)
Link-Up Play	Improved over time	Already shows promise in tight spaces
Hold-Up Play	Physical, shields ball well	Developing but shows natural feel

Edited 7 hours ago by Nolan

[EFL Saints]

I've written a piece about the six smartest deals in the Championship so far, includes a bit about Downs. 

Championship transfers: the six smartest deals so far

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

Interesting to look into our recent track record buying young players:

Mara - €11.5m, sold for €12m

Sulemana - €25m, sold for €17.5m up to €21.5m

SAA - free, sold for €8.5m

Charles - £10m, worth more now.

Edozie - €8m, would likely get a slight profit.

Meghoma - free, sold for €6m

ABK - €12m, received €2m loan fee so far, €12.5m sale fell through. We want €10m to more or less break even but could lose €5m or so here.

Larios - €7m, likely to lose quite a bit of this fee.

Fernandes - €15m, will go for treble that.

Lavia - £12m initial but €22m including sell on, sold for €62m

Livramento - £5m but €26m including sell on, sold for €38m

Bazunu - €14m, one we might lose on if we sold now.

THB - £20m, worth at least that today.

Edwards - £3m worth more now

Wood - £3m, expect a small profit.

Quarshie and Downs are the next ‘gambles’ but are well informed by Lederer and Spors.

Have I missed anyone?

Some of these talents have been very good for our first team like Lavia, Tino, THB and Matty, but one thing for sure is they aren’t too risky in terms of financial investments. We are definitely up on the youth gambles. Players like Carillo £19m (sold for nothing), Onuachu, £16m (sold for £6m) are the bigger types of gambles that have cost us big time. ABK looked initially to be a potentially big sale but injuries have broke his mentality. Bazunu probably the most frustrating of the young buys, we expected more and his return has been statistically awful.

Get the impression the club wants to be a selling club that does enough to stay in the premier league. Like you've shown, the deals on the youngsters are good, but how much are the TV rights worth to even the bottom clubs in the premier league (£80m?). And we've had two relegations.

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, goodymatt said:

Interesting to look into our recent track record buying young players:

Mara - €11.5m, sold for €12m

Sulemana - €25m, sold for €17.5m up to €21.5m

SAA - free, sold for €8.5m

Charles - £10m, worth more now.

Edozie - €8m, would likely get a slight profit.

Meghoma - free, sold for €6m

ABK - €12m, received €2m loan fee so far, €12.5m sale fell through. We want €10m to more or less break even but could lose €5m or so here.

Larios - €7m, likely to lose quite a bit of this fee.

Fernandes - €15m, will go for treble that.

Lavia - £12m initial but €22m including sell on, sold for €62m

Livramento - £5m but €26m including sell on, sold for €38m

Bazunu - €14m, one we might lose on if we sold now.

THB - £20m, worth at least that today.

Edwards - £3m worth more now

Wood - £3m, expect a small profit.

Quarshie and Downs are the next ‘gambles’ but are well informed by Lederer and Spors.

Have I missed anyone?

Some of these talents have been very good for our first team like Lavia, Tino, THB and Matty, but one thing for sure is they aren’t too risky in terms of financial investments. We are definitely up on the youth gambles. Players like Carillo £19m (sold for nothing), Onuachu, £16m (sold for £6m) are the bigger types of gambles that have cost us big time. ABK looked initially to be a potentially big sale but injuries have broke his mentality. Bazunu probably the most frustrating of the young buys, we expected more and his return has been statistically awful.

This is all fine as a measure of success if you just view the club as a business that exists to make as much money as it can from trading assets e.g. players. 

If however you view Saints as a football club that should exist to, ooh I don't know, win games of football, the analysis of the 'success' of those signings is a bit different: 

Obviously improved the team and became established first-team regulars: Lavia, Livramento, Fernandes, THB

Given lots of first-team opportunities but ultimately were judged not to be up to it for whatever reason (ability, attitude, injury or some combination of those) and ended up dropped, frozen out, loaned out or sold: Mara, Sulemana, SAA, Charles (last season), Edozie, Meghoma, ABK, Larios, Bazunu

Jury's out, could still go either way: Charles (this season), Edwards, Wood, Quarshie, Downs

In summary - in pure volume terms this 'strategy' has resulted in us accumulating way more players who were below the required standard on the pitch, than ones who were good enough. 

And herein lies the root issue - in recent years we've been run way too much as a business that primarily focuses on whether we can buy players that will increase in value in some way, rather than whether they are actually what we need on the pitch to win games of football. 

Hence we've gone from being an established Premier League club who regularly punched above it's weight, to a yo-yo* club unequipped to compete at the top level even if we do find ourselves there. And speaking personally as a supporter, if you can see that the club is basically being run to make profit rather than win games, it does sometimes make you question what the point of it all is, unless you're the type who really, really gets off on a Balance Sheet rather than celebrating a win. 

It will be interesting to see by the end of the window whether it feels like there's been a marked shift. Not many signs yet, but there's still plenty of time. 

(* miss you Dalek)

Edited 5 hours ago by Midfield_General

[Sheaf Saint]

 

 

[skintsaint]

2 hours ago, Nolan said:

just because its fun to see if AI is any good or not, I asked ChatGPT to select one Premier League player who Damion Downs is most comparable to.

we'll find out how fitting the suggestion is throughout the season, but its answer...

A very fitting and realistic Premier League comparison for Damion Downs is:

---

🪞 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)

Aerially dominant, athletic, and press-capable striker with room for growth technically.

Why Calvert-Lewin is a Strong Comparison:

Attribute	Dominic Calvert-Lewin	Damion Downs
Height & Build	6′2″ (187 cm), strong frame	6′3–6′4″ (192 cm), tall and athletic
Aerial Ability	Top-tier aerial threat	Very strong aerial potential
Work Rate / Pressing	Active in pressing setups	Developed in Bundesliga's pressing culture
Finishing	One-touch & instinctive	Clean, composed finisher (youth level)
Link-Up Play	Improved over time	Already shows promise in tight spaces
Hold-Up Play	Physical, shields ball well	Developing but shows natural feel

Hopefully Downs has a better dress sense.

[Sheaf Saint]

10 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Hopefully Downs has a better dress sense.

Impossible, surely!

[S-Clarke]

I will sit firmly on the fence on this one, I have no idea how it will pan out. This is the same club who signed Onuachu, Carillo and Mara at the end of the day.

Attribute wise he has bits we've missed, 100%, so looking at it from that aspect it's a positive. No idea how that will translate though as he's fairly unproven.

Hopefully they've pulled one out of the bag with this one.

[Toadhall Saint]

Welcome aboard

[Convict Colony]

4 hours ago, Verbal said:

You may not be when you hear them

beginning of the stones roses, i am the resurrection.

Down down you bring me down

 

[macca155]

I'm not even going to try and make a judgement on this one. He's a big lumping centre forward who appears to have a bit of pace . I like the sound of that, but he will either make it or not. 

Most teams have a player like this and we have two now. Attention turns to shipping some out.

I have long complained about the fact that Saints always seem to be a small side. Good to see that is finally changing.

[Verbal]

9 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

beginning of the stones roses, i am the resurrection.

Down down you bring me down

 

That would be my choice TBH.

[SNSUN]

Welcome Damion. That should be the attack sorted - AA, Downs, Archer and Stewart. Loan Ballard out again, sell BBD. We still need attacking midfielders unless the plan really is to keep Fernandes. (crosses everything in hope).

Edited 3 hours ago by SNSUN

[the colonel]

2 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

 

 

I think some might struggle with the lyrics!!!

[hypochondriac]

I think in fairness to the club they've bought him at the exact right time. If we'd waited a season and he had a good one in the Bundesliga then he would have been out of our reach financially. I hope he can develop as much as the club thinks he can. 

[goodymatt]

5 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

This is all fine as a measure of success if you just view the club as a business that exists to make as much money as it can from trading assets e.g. players. 

If however you view Saints as a football club that should exist to, ooh I don't know, win games of football, the analysis of the 'success' of those signings is a bit different: 

Obviously improved the team and became established first-team regulars: Lavia, Livramento, Fernandes, THB

Given lots of first-team opportunities but ultimately were judged not to be up to it for whatever reason (ability, attitude, injury or some combination of those) and ended up dropped, frozen out, loaned out or sold: Mara, Sulemana, SAA, Charles (last season), Edozie, Meghoma, ABK, Larios, Bazunu

Jury's out, could still go either way: Charles (this season), Edwards, Wood, Quarshie, Downs

In summary - in pure volume terms this 'strategy' has resulted in us accumulating way more players who were below the required standard on the pitch, than ones who were good enough. 

And herein lies the root issue - in recent years we've been run way too much as a business that primarily focuses on whether we can buy players that will increase in value in some way, rather than whether they are actually what we need on the pitch to win games of football. 

Hence we've gone from being an established Premier League club who regularly punched above it's weight, to a yo-yo* club unequipped to compete at the top level even if we do find ourselves there. And speaking personally as a supporter, if you can see that the club is basically being run to make profit rather than win games, it does sometimes make you question what the point of it all is, unless you're the type who really, really gets off on a Balance Sheet rather than celebrating a win. 

It will be interesting to see by the end of the window whether it feels like there's been a marked shift. Not many signs yet, but there's still plenty of time. 

(* miss you Dalek)

You’re not wrong, we need a balance of speculating on young players that have less financial risk and getting what the team needs to be competitive now. Brighton have done an excellent job of this is recent times. Sole reliance on young potential resulted in our relegation from an established position. Transfer strategy has raised some funds to help paper over the cracks since but we will need investment in proven premier league players to get back to where we were.