West Ham United tipped for transfer battle as ‘bigger clubs will be coming in’ for Jarrod Bowen – Sky Sports pundit
West Ham will “do really well” to “hold on to” Jarrod Bowen with “bigger clubs” set to come in for him within the next year, according to Tony Gale.
The Sky Sports pundit, speaking live on the world feed match commentary on 30 September, called the Irons winger “one of the best in the business” as he again shone in 2-0 win over the Blades, while suggesting that he should be starting for England.
Bowen, 26, has been increasingly linked to Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp is known to be a fan and may be faced with needing a replacement for Mohamed Salah, but Gale thinks it won’t just be the Reds knocking on the door before long.
Gale said (3.17pm): “If he gets a few games in the team he’ll be a real force for England. He’s got a good work rate, good work ethic about defending as well, great all-round player.
“West Ham will do really well maybe to hold on to him, maybe next season I think the bigger clubs will be coming in for him.”
Inevitable
Clearly it is a threat for clubs with huge money behind them to be after the Irons star, not least when the club has seen Declan Rice leave for Arsenal this summer.
But Bowen has been tipped to sign a new contract, while he has been speaking recently about how connected to the club he is starting to feel [Vibe with FIVE, 26 September], so it is no foregone conclusion that he immediately wants to take an exit route.
However, Rice regularly espoused his love of the club and he still wanted to leave for Champions League football, which he got in a £105million move across London in July.
The former West Ham captain didn’t even have the issue of struggling to get picked for England when he made his decision to leave, so if Gareth Southgate continues to prefer other options it might factor into Bowen’s thinking.
The likes of Jack Grealish have seen their international prospects mysteriously increase after leaving an established club for one of the ‘Big Six’, so that will remain a concerning element if there is a run at Bowen by any such clubs.
As long as the Hammers get the former Hull City man signed to a new deal they will be able to ensure any exit is for another huge fee, but while he keeps performing at such a high level the more likely it is that the market for him grows.
In other West Ham news, a senior player has claimed his form was bad last year because he wasn’t “motivated”.