Fabrizio Romano praises West Ham United figure for ‘crucial’ role played in new Jarrod Bowen contract
Fabrizio Romano has praised the role West Ham director Tim Steidten played in getting Jarrod Bowen to sign a new contract at London Stadium.
The England international has been in superb form at the start of the 2023-24 campaign, but that in turn saw him linked with a move away from the Hammers.
However, Bowen brought an end to that speculation on Sunday (8 October) by putting pen to paper on a new seven-year deal with the club.
Given the growing interest in the versatile attacker, who had been due to become a free agent in 20 months’ time, Romano described it as being “like a new signing” for the Irons.
“Jarrod Bowen’s new deal with West Ham is an important one because it was not an easy negotiation,” Romano said on his Daily Briefing (10 October).
“Bowen has been wanted by many other clubs, not in terms of official bids, but many top teams were discussing his name internally, while scouts were keeping an eye on him as he’s been doing very well at West Ham.
“The negotiation was tough, but in the end Bowen was 100% convinced about West Ham’s project. They’re going to another stage of their process now, and after lengthy talks they were successful in convincing Bowen.
“Also the new director has been crucial, convincing key players to stay at the club but also in finding top players like Mohammed Kudus to join.
“A new extension like Bowen is like a new signing, in my opinion, because in modern football it’s so difficult to keep your star names, so congratulations to them because it’s like almost like they’ve signed a new top player.”
Great work
At one point last week, many West Ham fans could be forgiven for thinking the worst with regards to Bowen’s future at West Ham.
The former Hull City ace, who will forever have his name written in United folklore for his Europa Conference League final winner, was touted as a target for the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United.
There had been talk of a new deal being signed for a number of months, but the amount of time it took for anything official to come out of the club suggested signs of an impasse.
Even if that was the case, an agreement was reached in the end and West Ham fans can rejoice. While the new seven-year deal does not necessarily mean Bowen will be at the club that long, the ball is at least in West Ham’s court.
Credit to Steidten and the others behind the scenes for getting this deal over the line.
Hopefully, there will be plenty more happy memories for Bowen at West Ham in the years to come.
In other West Ham news, Moyes could reportedly drop one of his regulars for the trip to Aston Villa.