Arsenal have been advised that they may have missed a trick by not making a £60million move for West Ham‘s Jarrod Bowen in the winter transfer window.
The versatile forward, who can play on the right and up front, struck a devastating blow to Arsenal‘s Premier League title aspirations on Saturday by heading home his eighth goal of the season, handing West Ham a 1-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium. With major injuries hitting Arsenal hard – Gabriel Jesus with an ACL tear and Kai Havertz suffering a hamstring setback – the Gunners’ attempts to reinforce their attacking options ended in failure last month.
While a £60million bid for Aston Villa hitman Ollie Watkins was rebuffed, Mikel Arteta has now been told he should have tried to tempt Bowen away from West Ham in January. The suggestion follows claims from Ben Foster, the former England, Manchester United and Wrexham goalkeeper, that the Hammers skipper could have been persuaded to make the switch to join Arsenal and follow old team-mate Declan Rice across London.
Ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp previously expressed his high regard for Bowen, having reportedly been interested in bringing him to Anfield prior to departing the Merseysiders at the end of last season. Ahead of a Carabao Cup encounter between Liverpool and West Ham last term, Klopp singled out the England international, saying he is “probably my favourite player besides my players”.
While Foster even suggested that it could have sparked some taunting from rival supporters if Arsenal had signed 28-year-old Bowen, he insisted that the England ace’s ability to find the net would have quashed any potential mockery. Despite the suggestion, Bowen’s future remains secure at West Ham, with his contract stretching until the summer of 2030, reports the Mirror.
Foster spoke about the player’s hypothetical impact at Arsenal on the latest episode of his Fozcast podcast as he said: “He would definitely score some goals for Arsenal. I don’t think he’s a top four player. I think he is one little rung below it, but he’d definitely start up front for Arsenal.
“Other people would have laughed, but Arsenal fans would have gone, ‘do you know what? Fair play to the owners, fair play to Mikel Arteta. They’re thinking out of the box and investing in the rest of this season’.
“(They would have said) ‘we’re not going to give it up. We are investing in a player that we know will score us, between now and the end of the season, 10 to 12 goals’. I think Jarrod Bowen would probably be open to it as well.”
(Image: Getty)
Foster estimated that a bid in the region of £50m to £60m might have persuaded West Ham to sell. Although it is believed that would in fact be way below West Ham’s true valuation of their skipper, who is not for sale.
Meanwhile, Bowen’s chances of featuring for England in the near future have been boosted following his stellar performance against Arsenal.
The player revealed new Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel has reached out twice to talk about his form and fitness after taking over the reins. Bowen discussed his hopes of making the national squad ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers at Wembley against Albania and Latvia.
He said: “Hopefully I’ll be involved – we’ve spoken a couple of times, but all I can do is what I did against Arsenal, try and score goals, play my best every single week and see where it takes me. That’s always been my mindset when it comes to the national team. But it’s nice to get those calls.”
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