When Jarrod Bowen limped off in the Liverpool game, my sixth sense tingled, and I thought it wasn’t good, as in properly not good. Social media did its usual conspiracy thing, with one relatively well-known account suggesting Bowen was faking it to get off the pitch, to rumours of it being a serious injury and Bowen being out for some time.
Then the news came through that Bowen had fractured a bone in his left foot. On his Instagram account, he wrote: ‘Unfortunately in the first half of our game on Sunday I suffered a fracture to a bone in my foot. As always, I tried to fight on and continue playing until I physically couldn’t. Injuries happen in football but I’m already looking forward to getting back out there as soon as possible. See you all soon.’
A five-nil hiding, and our best player injured – the morale of the fanbase dropped even further, and it was already just a few inches off the floor. With Bowen in the team, there is always a chance he’ll tuck one away or roll the ball into the path of a teammate to fire into the net.
A lot will now rest on Mohammed Kudus stepping into the right-wing position, and Crysencio Summerville dropping into the left-side. We have been relatively fortunate with injuries this season, but Bowen follows another key player – Michail Antonio, looking at a significant spell on the sidelines.
Fabianski came in for Areola and rolled back the years to make some outstanding saves – he is also now injured. The footballing gods have decided to stick the boot in. Bowen’s injury is bad news for all involved. We needed to dip into the transfer market anyway, but now more firepower is absolutely essential.
Jarrod is our top scorer with five league goals, and four assists – he is our captain and best player. As I write this ahead of the Man City game, we are 13th in the league and have won just two of our last seven games.
Although our main problems have been shipping a hideous number of goals and a non-existent midfield, losing our main source of goals is a huge concern. He has performed well since being skipper. Whether he is an effective captain, I’m not so sure.
He is clearly invested in the club, and always gives his very best. I’ve always believed a captain should be a centre back, or centre midfielder, someone vocal and motivational, as opposed to your best player. Bowen is more of a ‘lead from the front’ captain, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and his brand of leadership will be missed while he is out. Step forward Mr Soucek, perhaps?
Our skipper doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves from the media, and those outside the club – is this another Declan Rice scenario, where he doesn’t get any real respect because he plays for ‘little old West Ham’? Since we bought him from Hull for £20 million in January 2020 – who says you can’t buy anyone decent in January? – Bowen’s star has continued to rise.
He scores quality goals, see the recent peach against Wolves, and puts them on a plate for others – imagine what he could do if we had a quality striker for him to link up with? Bukayo Saka is England’s first choice right winger and is viewed by those outside of West Ham as a class above Jarrod Bowen.
I’m not so sure about this. It is true, however, that Saka’s key stats in the Premier League are a little above Bowen’s. Saka has 52 goals, Bowen 47 but of those Saka has 11 penalties and Bowen two. Their goals per match puts Saka at 0.28 and Bowen at 0.26.
But Saka is playing in an Arsenal team that is a class above West Ham, surrounded by better players and managed by a talented young manager. Whereas Bowen has spent the majority of his career being managed by David Moyes OBE.
As we know, Bowen is under a long-term contract with the Hammers. He is settled in the area, with links to east end ‘royalty’, and has a young family. It looks like we are fortunate enough to have him for several years yet. That said, if we continue to drift like we are this season, with a poor manager, and a lack of quality, could he have his head turned?
In recent times, Newcastle and Liverpool have been linked with our captain. Could he be tempted by a Champions League team? At the moment it looks like Mohamed Salah may well extend his Liverpool contract, but if he doesn’t and Liverpool come calling in the summer…
Imagine they have won the League, and are looking like strong competitors in Europe – could that break Bowen’s bond with east London? We have few heroes in east London at the moment but let’s hope this one stays put.
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