Group Technical Director Johannes Spors said: “Damion is a player we have been monitoring for some time who possesses excellent physical qualities and the ability to disrupt defences. “Strengthening our attacking options was one of our top priorities this summer, and Damion is a player who will add real quality to the group. Despite his relatively young age he is already a senior international, so we are excited to see him thrive in the environment here at Southampton.” - Damion Downs said: “Everybody plays football to win titles. To win my first title at 20 last year was a great feeling, and I hope to repeat it again this year. “I think Southampton is a big club that should be in the Premier League, and that’s my goal – to help the team as much as I can to bring the club back to the Premier League.” please log in to view this image
Happy to see how he does, we are pretty stacked with attacking options who will want to play centrally. If we see Armstrong and Diaz as wide players that leaves Archer, Stewart and Downs as the central options, with Diaz and Arma as potential options there as well. Id expect somebody to leave out of the 4 who were here last season, my feeling is it will be Armstrong
I have no idea if it's fair description of him (I've never seen him play), but from what I'm reading I'm getting the feeling that he's a young and quicker version of Che. Decent at dropping deep, decent at holding up the ball and bringing others into play, but pretty poor at finishing. If that's correct, then I'm fine with his signing at Championship level. Just look at two years ago - we were often a better side when Che was our focal point; his weak finishing wasn't a big issue, because we created so much and had multiple goalscorers in the side. But it's a big issue at PL level. Hope he goes well.
Unfortunately both Koeman and Poch both cited no backing from the board which is why they left and we ended up with Puel-Pellegrini-Hughes. We really are great at making poor decisions at this club out of arrogance that we can do things better without the good players/managers.
Saw this discussion between a Köln fan and a Saints fan on Reddit and thought I'd share... FCK: You got a great gem there. Very unique player with traits very few players in his age range have. If he manages to keep up his work and gets his weaknesses sorted he will be a joy. Wishing him the best. SFC: What would you say his weaknesses are? FCK: Speed, which is not that crucial imo and he is limited inside the box. And he needs to learn to use his body better, he has the physique for it undoubtedly. But you can be excited about a intelligent player who also creates a lot of spaces and also is part of build up play. I personally see him working best with another offensive minded player where he acts as target man. He reads the game greatly. He’s great under pressure and has good working ethics. You read a lot about his touch, it’s alright, you don’t want him to dribble tho, but that’s not the role he will play anyways so I don’t would be worried about that part. He’s finishing and (short) passing are great for his position.