West Ham United may find it even tougher keeping hold of Jarrod Bowen as news breaks on Thursday
Jarrod Bowen has been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Month award in a further acknowledgement of his superb form for West Ham.
The 26-year-old missed out to Tottenham’s James Maddison last month but will hope to have better luck in the September voting, where he is up against Julian Alvarez, Pedro Neto, Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier and Ollie Watkins.
Bowen scored three goals across West Ham’s four matches last month, coming in wins over Luton Town and Sheffield United, plus the defeat at Liverpool.
Indeed, that continued the England international’s fine form throughout the 2023-24 campaign, having now scored and assisted a combined six goals in seven games – a tally only Salah, Watkins (both seven) and Erling Haaland (nine) can better.
While it is great news Bowen is again up for the Player of the Month gong, the forward’s sublime form could be a negative for the Hammers when negotiating a new contract.
It was reported as early as June, fresh on the back of Bowen’s Europa Conference League final heroics, that talks were about to open over extending the player’s deal [Daily Mail].
Since then, there has been talk of Liverpool showing a serious interest in Bowen [The Athletic], with a move being lined up for as early as the January transfer window.
Bowen is loving life in East London right now both on and off the field, but as Declan Rice to Arsenal highlights, a move to one of the division’s elite clubs can often be too much to turn down.
If he didn’t already, the former Hull City ace now has plenty of bargaining power when it comes to discussing fresh terms, and West Ham must ensure they bow to any demands – reasonably speaking – to keep Bowen at London Stadium.
Given he only has one more full season to run on his current terms, tying down Bowen has now surely become the top priority for West Ham.
In other West Ham news, Freiburg’s manager has attempted to put all the pressure on the Hammers ahead of their European showdown.