Given how well regarded Jarrod Bowen is by his teammates at West Ham United, it is not surprising that the organisation places a high premium on securing his long-term future. Two years remain on the winger’s current contract, but negotiations to extend it have been ongoing for more than a year without coming to a conclusion. West Ham is still pressuring Bowen to make a long-term commitment to playing at the London Stadium.
In a remarkable 14-month span, the 26-year-old made his England debut in June 2022, set a West Ham record for most goals in a European match, gave birth to his twins, Star and Summer, in May, and scored the game-winning goal against Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.
David Moyes has relied heavily on Bowen since bringing him over from Hull City in January 2020, and if he is unable to bring in a new striker during this transfer window, he intends to turn the winger into a center-forward. By scoring a beautiful goal in the 1-1 draw versus Bournemouth on Saturday, Bowen shown that he is a more than competent goal scorer this season.
Will West Ham revive Bowen’s contract?
West Ham will be hoping Bowen agrees to a new contract within the next six months, as failing to do so might put them in a precarious situation. Clubs have shown a greater propensity to offload players whose contracts are approaching their last 12 months this summer. Declan Rice, a midfielder who rejected down three contract offers, had just one year left on his contract when he joined Arsenal for £105 million from West Ham.
With one year left on their contracts, Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and Mason Mount of Manchester United respectively left Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. Although Bowen doesn’t play in the classic goal-scoring position for Moyes’ team, his record of scoring from the right wing is really outstanding. In 51 appearances across every competition in 2021–22, Bowen scored 18 goals and contributed 13 assists. In 2022–23, the England international had a harder time maintaining the same level of consistency, but he still managed to score 13 goals in 54 games.
Moyes’ attacking looks convincing despite Declan Rice’s departure to Arsenal-
Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio were previously transformed by Moyes from wingers to centre-forwards, and their game performance increased noticeably when they led the attack for West Ham. When he switched to become a striker, Arnautovic (now 34) was 29 years old, whilst Antonio (33) was 30. At age 26, Bowen is starting to reach his peak.
Moyes feels that altering Bowen’s position might not be the wisest course of action for a number of reasons. Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca cost West Ham £75 million in total over the course of the previous four years, but the expensive pair struggled to gel and combined to score only 22 goals in 81 appearances. The club’s sale to Ajax and Atalanta resulted in a huge financial loss as well.
Bowen remains a cool finisher despite playing as a winger, and the majority of his goals have been taken from within the box. However, there are substantial difficulties when playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation as the only striker. As an illustration, Antonio does the hold-up better than Bowen. According to Moyes and the coaching team, Bowen is West Ham’s top finisher.
How can Edson Alvarez and James Word Prowse help the Hammers in helping them forget Declan Rice?
After the additions of Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse, West Ham is still hoping to finalise agreements for former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos of Stuttgart and offensive midfielder Mohammed Kudus of Ajax. The failure to sign a striker might have been perceived adversely in prior transfer windows. However, investing a lot of money in futures has not been successful, and Bowen might have the solution to a persistent issue.
The forward proved he could flourish in pressure situations by scoring the game-winning goal in Prague, and Bowen now faces the challenge of being West Ham’s No. 9 with elegance.
