Flynn Downes is hoping West Ham United’s qualification for the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) group stage will give him more opportunities to play for the Club he loves.
The lifelong Hammer joined from Swansea City in the summer, having impressed in the EFL Championship last season, and has settled quickly into life in east London.
The midfielder has featured three times as a substitute, making his longest appearance so far when he featured for the final 22 minutes of Thursday’s UECL play-off round second-leg win at Danish side Viborg FF.
West Ham have now been drawn to face Anderlecht of Belgium, FCSB of Romania and Silkeborg of Denmark in Group B and the 23-year-old would love to be given further opportunities to play as the Irons’ European adventure continues.
“I hope so!” he confirmed. “I just want to play and to get a few more opportunities. I’ve been training well and I just want to get on the pitch and play football.
“Minutes have been hard to come by at the minute, but that’s football, that’s life, so I’ve just got to keep working hard.”
Downes, like any footballer, wants to be on the pitch all the time, and he knows competition for places at a top Premier League club is always going to be fierce, and was happy to be part of the squad which won through in Viborg in midweek.
“Personally and as a team we’re all buzzing,” he smiled. “These games can be tough. To come to an opposition that we’re expected to beat and already leading, it can be tough, as the gaffer said before the game, but I thought the boys were excellent. They stuck to their guns, played really well, got an early goal and it was good.
“I think you could see from the first leg that they’re a good team. They’ve played some nice football, and they’ve got some good players. It was a tough game at a tough place, but the boys put a performance in. I thought they were excellent.”
One player who played a big part in West Ham’s progress in Europe was Gianluca Scamacca, who scored in both legs against Viborg and has impressed his new teammates hugely since his arrival from Italian Serie A club Sassuolo.
“He’s a very good player, his build-up play, he’s quick, he’s strong, he wins headers, he’s got everything,” Downes observed. “Training with him every day as well, you see the ins and outs of what he does. Even shooting, he’s got the harder shot I’ve ever seen, I’ll be honest, I don’t know how he kicks it like that! He’s some player.”
Scamacca could make his first Premier League start at Aston Villa on Sunday, and Downes is hoping the Italian can score his first top-flight goal and the Hammers can get off the mark by beating Steven Gerrard’s side.
“It’s a big game,” the No12 confirmed. “Look, it was good winning [on Thursday], but the main focus is the Premier League. We haven’t had the best of starts, but I think it’s a good game where we can just kickstart off our season really. They’re not doing the greatest, so we’re both not on very good form, but it’ll be a good game and we’ll go there confident and hopefully we can get the three points.”
