Liverpool midfielder Stewart Downing is close to leaving the club in order to join London-based club West Ham United after the two teams settled on a fee estimated around £5million.
The Merseyside club signed Downing from Aston Villa for a whopping £20million back in 2011 when ex-player Kenny Dalglish was in charge, but after failing to impress new manager Brendan Rodgers, the club are now willing to take a £15million hit on the Englishman.
This will be the second player Liverpool have taken a loss on after they sold striker Andy Carroll to West Ham earlier in the summer for just £15million. They signed him from Newcastle for £35million.
The 29-year-old will now undergo a medical at Upton Park and will also agree on personal terms with Sam Allardyce’s side, but a move is expected to be completed within the next 24 hours.
Downing made in total 91 appearances for Liverpool, but only managed to score seven goals in that duration and it now looks like he is set to leave Anfield in order to follow former team-mates Andy Carroll and Joe Cole to Upton Park.
No formal comments have been made as of yet from either party, but the fee in question is reported to be around £5million for the Englishman.
Alex Batt – @AlexBatt