Stewart Downing Set for West Ham Switch

Stewart Downing was bought for £20mil from Aston Villa under former manager Kenny Dalglish and now, it would appear, he’s about to leave for London on a cut-rate £5mil deal with West Ham United his final destination.

The 29-year old winger once again appears to be surplus to requirements at Anfield as Brendan Rodgers looks to clear out the deadwood on Merseyside. Downing revealed last winter that he was told by Rodgers that he’d be able to leave Liverpool after failing to make the kind of impact that justified his particularly large wage packet; despite remaining with the Reds and regaining his spot in the first team, the former Middlesbrough man now looks poised to follow former striker Andy Carroll – another Dalglish expenditure — to London with the gigantic Geordie already making the switch to the big city after spending last season on loan at Upton Park.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, who has expressed interest in Downing before, had an earlier approach rebuffed by the winger. “It’s not something I am going to consider,” said the England international as he confirmed that he’d prefer to fight for his spot at Anfield – and hang on to the final two years of his £80,000-a-week contract. Now, it appears he may have changed his tune with reports coming in that he’ll be undergoing a medical post-haste after the two clubs agreed to a fee of £5mil for his services. Although the 29-year old will still need to discuss, and agree to, personal terms, it appears that another overpaid and underperforming player will be making an exit this summer; the only question that remains is what are we going to do with that money?