Flynn Downes (born 20 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Southampton.

After much speculation surrounding his future starting in summer 2020, Downes joined Swansea City in August 2021, moving on to West Ham United the following year.

[9] He made his professional debut on the opening day of 2017–18, coming on as a substitute for the injured Andre Dozzell in first-half stoppage time in a 1–0 home victory over Birmingham City.

[16] He signed a new three-year contract with the club in March 2019, with the option of a further year, and scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 home victory over Leeds United on the final day of the season.

[19] On 1 December 2019, Downes captained Ipswich for the first time in a FA Cup second round tie against Coventry City, which ended as a 1–1 draw.

[20] After the second bid was rejected, Downes reportedly handed in a transfer request and subsequently was left out of the squad for the club's opening three games.

[26] In the 2021–22 season, Downes completed 92.6% of his 2,465 attempted passes achieving the highest pass-completion rate in the top four divisions in English football for 2021–22.

[4] On 7 July 2022, Downes signed for West Ham United on a five-year contract, with a further one-year option, for an undisclosed fee, reported by the BBC to be around £12 million.

[31] Downes made his debut for the club on 26 August 2023 in a 2–1 victory against Queens Park Rangers, coming on as a substitute for Jack Stephens in the 25th minute.

He scored two goals and made three assists and on 26 May was a member of the team which won promotion back to the Premier League having beaten Leeds United 1–0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.