After a long slump: this HSV player could really hurt FC | OneFootball

When a club threatened with relegation loans a player for a key position for half a year, they naturally hope for immediate help—and certainly not that, just a few weeks later, the player says: "I'm a young player who still needs to develop. I'm not a finished product." And yet, HSV may have done everything right with their winter loan. At least, if history repeats itself.

Damian Downs' young career has already been marked by massive highs and lows. After the striker quickly made the leap from FC's youth ranks to the pros, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a derby against Gladbach, delivered the 3-2 winning goal against Union Berlin on the penultimate matchday of the 23/24 season—prompting the loudest FC goal celebration since May 2017—and then, just a week later, suffered a disastrous relegation with the team in Heidenheim. 

The next high was supposed to follow in the subsequent season. The 21-year-old was the starting striker for almost the entire season in the cathedral city and played a crucial role in helping Cologne achieve promotion again with twelve goals. But even this high was followed by a painful low. 

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So, last summer, the US international moved to FC Southampton in the English Championship. After Downs provided an assist in his very first match, nothing else went right. At first, the eight-million man only got a few minutes as a substitute; later, he wasn’t even in the squad. The notoriously scathing criticism, combined with the insults he had to endure on the island, even led him to freeze all his social media channels to this day. 

Although the tall striker has been back in Germany since the beginning of this year, he hasn’t really managed to overcome this low. In his seven Bundesliga matches for HSV, the native of Lower Franconia has contributed neither a goal nor an assist. Although there seems to be little sign of an imminent upswing, Downs is precisely the type of player you’d trust to turn things around. 

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The reason for this is simply his mental attitude and the fact that he has already proven this ability several times in his young career. Before the top match against his former club from Cologne, the Hamburg player gave an interview that made you doubt whether you were really dealing with a 21-year-old. Downs told the portal 'come-on-fc.com' about his horror time on the island: "It was a very good experience. Personally, but also football-wise. It was a very instructive and therefore also a good time for me."

Instead of struggling personally with the sporting downturn, the hate, and self-doubt, Downs apparently managed to gain a healthy distance from the low point of his career just a few months later and seems ready for the next high. 

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And yet, of course, he now needs to deliver. The goal-getter only has until the end of the season to make a case for himself at Hamburg. Considering the hefty purchase option, which according to media reports is said to be around ten million euros, a goal against his former club wouldn’t be so bad—to finally end the downswing and usher in the next high. 

When asked what his goal for the weekend was, Downs’ answer was clear: "Score a goal and win," the US international told 'come-on-fc.com'. And although a goal would at least symbolically mark the end of the downturn, one thing would be absolutely clear for the former Cologne player if he were to score: "I don’t have to celebrate then."

Scooter and the HSV fans would probably take care of that for him if necessary. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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