West Ham hero Jarrod Bowen wants to follow Mohamed Salah in ‘special art’ verdict
Jarrod Bowen has cited Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland as two players he is trying to learn from in order to further improve his scoring for West Ham.
The Irons star told TNT Sports ahead of the Europa League trip to Olympiakos on 26 October that he wants to score goals “more than anything” and has been speaking with his father, a former semi-pro forward, and watching videos of the Liverpool and Manchester City stars in a bid to boost his record.
Bowen, 26, already has six Hammers goals this season to lead the club’s scoring charts, after netting 13 last term and 18 the campaign before, but believes he can do more.
Bowen said: “I’ve always wanted to score goals and get into the positions where the ball might fall to you. I always want to score goals more than anything. I want to score every single game.
“I’m always usually in a position in the box where I know that a chance might fall to me. It’s something I’ve been working on myself really with my dad; he speaks to me about it, he was a centre-forward and he understands it.
“We just have little chats about different runs to make and where to be in the box, and always be in the box. I think Salah’s the best at it and obviously Haaland, too.
“They’re always positioning themselves where they think they’re going to score a goal. People say it’s scoring from four yards out but there’s a special art to it of picking up that space in the box and kind of anticipating where the ball’s going to be.
“So definitely something that I’ve not been working on the training pitch, just more probably looking at videos and having a chat about it really.”
High standards
For a winger Bowen’s goalscoring record is pretty strong but it shows his ambition that he is looking at arguably the two premier goal scorers in the top flight to improve further.
If he emulates Salah too closely it will likely only increase speculation that he will be in Jurgen Klopp’s sights to move to Anfield if and when the Egyptian departs.
Bowen is said to be admired by the German manager and was tipped to be the man the Liverpool boss would have turned to if Salah had headed to Saudi Arabia in the summer.
West Ham have already dealt with the big-money exit of their talisman Declan Rice to Arsenal this year, covering for his departure strongly with the arrivals of James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez, coupled with a return to form for Tomas Soucek.
Losing Bowen any time soon would be another huge challenge to overcome, although the new contract he recently signed which extends to 2030 has protected the Irons against being forced to sanction a deal.
As long as he stays at the London Stadium he looks set to remain arguably the biggest star in the side, and the more times he can find the net the better.
In other West Ham news, the door has been left wide open for the Hammers to sign a long-term target after a major previous bid following a “very, very likely” update from Fabrizio Romano.