West Ham duo overlooked as Southgate continues to ignore Ward-Prowse and Bowen
West Ham United duo James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen will not be added to the England squad, despite two players withdrawing due to injury, England have confirmed.
The official team website confirmed on Monday (4 September) that both Jack Grealish and Trent Alexander-Arnold wouldn’t be joining up with Gareth Southgate’s side for the September international break, but there would be no further additions to the side.
Both Bowen and Ward-Prowse were unfortunate to not be called up to the squad originally having been in impressive form for the Irons early in the season, with Bowen already scoring three times and Ward-Prowse registering four goal involvements in three matches.
The West Ham pair will miss out as England face Scotland and Ukraine in their September international fixtures and they are joined by Raheem Sterling in missing out on selection, with the Chelsea forward unhappy with his omission [Sami Mokbel, 4 September].
Harsh call
Southgate hasn’t always been the sort of manager to call up players unnecessarily, but it seems ridiculous that he hasn’t been able to find a place in his England side of either Bowen or Ward-Prowse after their incredible start to the campaign.
Alexander-Arnold had been named as a midfielder in September’s squad and the Hammers’ midfielder is as close to a like-for-like replacement to the Liverpool defender as there is in the Premier League, with a similar range of passing and set-piece ability.
Bowen may not be as similar in profile to Grealish, but of English players in the top flight, he is the joint top scorer, alongside the similarly overlooked Solly March and should have likely been in contention with Eberechi Eze for a place this international break.
Southgate has been known to have his favourites that he picks no matter their form at club level, but it seems ridiculous that the likes of Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips never miss out on a squad, but two players who are currently at the top of their game can’t even receive a late call-up.
The advantage for the Hammers is that two of their most important players get a couple of weeks without matches to rest and re-energise for the next block of fixtures in the club calendar and David Moyes won’t have to face the prospect of two of his best players picking up injuries on international duty.
In other West Ham news, one West Ham defender has been offered a contract 10 times his current wage