Stumbling block in Damion Downs' Southampton exit in January | OneFootball

Sky Sports Germany have revealed the stumbling block in Damion Downs exiting Southampton for the Bundesliga in January.

Damion Downs is a wanted man in January, with the Southampton striker linked with a move to Hamburger SV in Germany. However, a stumbling block has emerged amid his desire to play regular football.

The 21-year-old has featured 14 times for Southampton this season, and he has failed to score a goal. The solitary assist has not been enough for him to break into Tonda Eckert's plans on a consistent basis, with Downs now down the pecking order.

Adam Armstrong has been spearheading the frontline, with Cameron Archer benched but still ahead of Downs. Southampton fans are keen for Downs to leave to play regular games, amid talk Hamburg are eyeing a loan deal.

A temporary switch to Hamburg from Southampton could be the ideal short-term solution for the USMNT striker, especially during a World Cup season where he has competition from Josh Sargent, Haji Wright, Folarin Balogun, and more. But further developments have since emerged.

Damion Downs' World Cup dream has stumbling block with Southampton

Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Germany has the latest on the situation, stating that Downs wants to keep his World Cup chances alive, which makes a move in January possible. He adds that concrete enquiries have been made to Southampton already.

Not only are Hamburg interested in the former Koln centre-forward, but he is also on the radar of other Bundesliga clubs. The stumbling block is that he has "an absolute top-level contract running until 2029" at St. Mary's.

That is likely to translate further to being on decent wages beyond what many Bundesliga clubs can pay. Downs scored 11 and bagged a further six assists in 32 games in all competitions in the German second tier last season as a mere 20-year-old.

Southampton splashed the cash on Downs in the summer, but the young striker came in for some criticism after a bad miss in front of goal and he simply hasn't been able to recover from it.

Speaking after the cup tie against Northampton Town, Will Still said: “It’s very early days for him. He’s literally been in the building for a couple of weeks. We just need to help him not overthink situations and not get confused as to what he’s really good at.”

That verdict came mere weeks after Still said the following in pre-season: “My reflections were that showed exactly where we still need to improve, where we probably still need to strengthen as well,” Still said, hoping for more arrivals with only Downs and Quarshie through the door as things stand.

“There are positives. Damion came on and got his first goal. The first bunch of players have got 90 minutes in their legs, which is what we wanted, and we’ve finished off a big week of work and intensity to get where we want to get to.

“We don’t have to be ready right now, and we knew we weren’t going to be. I think it just shows where and what we still need to do.

“[Downs’ goal] is a great finish, a great move. We could only play him for 15, 20 minutes, so that’s what we did,” the manager added.

“We pushed him a bit further, but we know he’s got quality. That’s why he’s here. And we want to surround that with a bit more quality and a bit more personality there, and I think that’s what showed today.”