Jarrod Bowen is hopefully sitting quietly on a beach, recovering from several gruelling seasons at West Ham with very little down time: The skipper looked a spent force by the end of last season’s relegation battle and very few will begrudge him a well earned break.
The hope is that he will come back fitter and faster to be ready to launch the Irons’ Championship promotion push in August: One of those overlooked by Thomas Tuchel, Bowen is spared the rigours of a summer World Cup to further test his 29 year old physique.
Bowen – left behind by Tuchel after an exhausting season
However, the latest fitness update out of the England World Cup camp suggests Tuchel has committed a bit of a blunder by omitting Bowen: It turns out his fellow right winger has been carrying an injury for months and is unlikely to start in England’s next game, as per Sky Sports News:
“Yesterday Bukayo Saka missed training and that’s a real concern for Thomas Tuchel….“He came into the camp with an Achilles problem, which he’s been managing for the last six months with Arsenal”
Bowen’s massive contribution last season in a losing, relegated side of 9 goals and 11 assists should have seen him selected for England alongside Saka and Madueke, many West Ham fans claimed when the 28 man squad was announced.
The fact that Saka was taken to the tournament with apre- existing achilles problem without Bowen as cover would suggest that West Ham fans have every right to feel vindicated. Bowen will be disappointed watching from the sidelines in what may be his last opportunity to represent England in a major tournament at almost 30 years of age.
The ideal scenario for us is that our captain and key player doesn’t spend the summer being dragged around the US as a bench warmer, only to get a serious training injury just before the new season starts.
Instead, take a break, recharge and refresh – ready to either get transferred for £80m or lead us straight back up.
If we are also being totally honest as West Ham fans, the truth is that Bowen’s form dipped dramatically towards the end of the season. In the last 10 Premier League games his stats were not very good and he was unable to win us enough games with more goals and assists. Therefore I was not surprised at all when he didn’t get selected.
Saka is overrated and should not have been picked ahead of Bowen. Big club bias again. But it leaves the England squad one short. I agree that Bowen is well out of it.
Bowen is not good enough for England after years of crap coaching. He hasn’t shown anything that would make him worthy of taking, sadly.
Just because Tuchel took average players or injured ones, will never make Bowen, after 3 indifferent season, worth risking. He was in a similar slump before the last one.
None of this is his fault. It’s because WHU had a succession of inept excuses for managers and pathetic coaching staff who couldn’t help to take him to the level I do believe he was capable of. He needs to be sold and spend the final years of his career realizing the potential he undoubtedly had.
He’s beyond rich and has the lifestyle he could only have dreamed of and this, coupled with the above has blunted the winning mentality that took him from non-league to an England player. Such a shame. What could’ve been…
Agree with Robert. Hopefully he will still be with us next season. I think Jarrod would have only been sitting on the bench and hardly used if at all
Personally I am glad that he didn’t go, he will be fully rested for a long season ahead.