Gabby Agbonlahor clashes with Dean Saunders as West Ham United ace Jarrod Bowen brought up
Jarrod Bowen was brought up by Gabby Agbonlahor when the talkSPORT pundit suggested the West Ham winger was a better option than Gareth Bale.
The start of the World Cup is now just a few days away, and nations have already jetted their squads to Qatar, with England arriving in Doha on Tuesday morning.
Bowen narrowly missed out on Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad, but Agbonlahor still believes the Hammers winger is a better current pick than Wales captain Gareth Bale.
Agbonlahor clashed with Dean Saunders after the former Aston Villa striker claimed no Wales player would make England’s top 30.
“No Welsh player would get near England’s best 30 players available,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
Saunders, who made 75 caps for Wales, then replied: “Thirty!? There’s no need for that at the end.”
“There’s 26 in the squad, and four more – I’m picking [Ivan] Toney and Bowen over Bale,” Agbonlahor responded.
Unlucky to miss out
To be compared to a five-time Champions League winner is already a sign of how far Bowen has come in recent years. The 25-year-old enjoyed a superb season in 2021/22 and was one of the best players across the Premier League.
If the World Cup had come a season earlier, Bowen would’ve been nailed on to be in the England squad, and possibly even as a starter.
But the West Ham man finished the season poorly and failed to get going in the current campaign. From being a near-certain member of the squad, Bowen watched his chances dwindle.
He can somewhat class himself unlucky for missing out on the call-up, especially as his lack of international experience put him behind the likes of Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka.
Hopefully missing out on the squad fires Bowen up for the second half of the season and he returns in December and rediscovers the form that saw him score 12 and register 10 assists last season.