Jarrod Bowen needs rescuing from doomed West Ham – but he should stay | OneFootball

The final whistle on a bleak night with bleak weather in a bleak stadium effectively ended West Ham‘s 14-year stay in the Premier League.

Seven points now separate the Hammers from Nottingham Forest, 2-1 victors on Tuesday night, coming three days after the humiliation of Wolves.

West Ham fans are often unfairly derided for harbouring delusions, but nobody is under any illusions of avoiding the drop anymore.

The move to the London Stadium has failed to end West Ham’s cycle of one relegation per decade. This needs pinning on David Sullivan, with Karren Brady as his accessory.

Several of the squad will be sold in the summer, from Lucas Paqueta to Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Few will be mourned.

But plenty of the squad will still be around next season, partly because nobody else wants them or can afford their wages.

It’s the case of Jarrod Bowen that is more nuanced. On the face of it, Bowen simply has to leave West Ham.

He’s one of the best forwards in the Premier League and still harbours ambitions of playing at this summer’s World Cup. No player in the current squad has contributed more to the Hammers.

The sight of him running through on goal in Prague, seconds away from winning the Europa Conference League, will be with me on my deathbed.

His form has suffered since being made captain, a reserved character who is ill-suited to rallying the troops in the depths of despair.

But there will be a queue of Premier League clubs wanting to sign Bowen in the summer; he’d be great squad depth at Liverpool or Arsenal and would start for Tottenham or Newcastle.

The more interesting thought experiment, perhaps one aided with the use of psychadleics, is that Bowen will be better off staying at West Ham.

He turns 30 next season. He’s never been an England regular and is likely to be phased out of the reckoning before Euro 2028. His wages would be hard to justify as a squad player elsewhere.

Plus, could you imagine Bowen looking into Danny Dyer’s eyes and telling him he wanted to leave for Spurs? Exactly.

In 2003, David James, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick all kicked off the season in Division One (ask your parents). James and Defoe only left in January, with automatic promotion looking unlikely.

Eight years later, the Hammers kept Rob Green and Carlton Cole. They managed to replace the outgoing Scott E. Parker with Kevin Nolan, ensuring an instant return to the Premier League.

It’s perhaps unrealistic to imagine Bowen wanting to stay at this cl*sterfuck of a football club. Not even his father-in-law would begrudge him a move.

He certainly shouldn’t receive any of the hate directed at Frank Lampard or Dimitri Payet should he decide to leave.

Nor should Bowen face the pantomime abuse dished out to Declan Rice whenever the Hammers play Arsenal.

But the opportunity to lead West Ham out of oblivion is surely more enticing than a bit-part role elsewhere?