Hammers new boy impressing in a big way
Rows, protests, negative publicity and all the rest of it will always have their place and be an ever present in football but at the end of it all the only thing that truly matters is what takes place between the white lines.
And I’ve never had any doubts that Bowen will be a player who- for all that might be going on elsewhere – has the gifts and ability to make a difference between survival and relegation.
Twenty three goals in his Championship career at Hull this season and 15 last term is one heck of a scoring tally and his ability to go past players is well known by defenders at the second level.
With another obviously very bright player in midfield with Tomas Soucek maybe there remains hope that West Ham will be playing its football in the Premier League next term and many fans.
Skipper Mark Noble has seen Bowen on the training pitch and says at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/february/07-february/mark-noble-ive-been-impressed-jarrod-bowens-hunger-and “Jarrod has been training and he looks really good. I am hoping he will bring goals, enthusiasm, energy and hunger, coming from the Championship.
“Jarrod’s goalscoring record at Hull was second-to-none and that’s why we’ve bought him. We’ve bought him to try and help us out at that end of the pitch.
“But even in training, I could see that he gets after the ball as well, and I love seeing that. It doesn’t happen anywhere near as much as it used to, apart from at the top teams, so you don’t get accustomed to seeing it any longer so, when I saw him doing it, I thought ‘Yes! He wants it!’ and it was nice to see.”
Two-footed, lively and direct, Bowen started just six of those 117 games as a central striker. Of the other 111, Bowen started 106 on the wing – 102 on the right and four on the left – and five as a second striker.
In addition to his willingness to tackle and track back, he also loves running with the ball at his feet, ranking sixth of all Championship players with 99 dribbles to his name prior to his move to London Stadium.
Should he start at Manchester City, he couldn’t have a more difficult baptism – apart from Liverpool of course – but Bowen looks to me the player we have been waiting to see at West Ham United.