Jarrod Bowen was exceptional for West Ham United last season, but Paul Merson surely couldn’t have watched him once.
Whilst Paul Merson doesn’t seem to be fully on board with the West Ham star’s genuine quality, England boss Gareth Southgate clearly liked what he saw Jarrod Bowen do for us, and included him in his EURO 2024 squad as a result.
Bowen, 27, is out in Germany on merit. He was the Hammers’ best and most consistent performer throughout the 2023/24 campaign.
He works harder than an other winger in the Premier League, and has massively improved his quality in front of goal over the past 12 months or so.
The former Hull City star clearly has a high standing amongst the England squad, after he spoke to reporters last week and criticised those who were digging him and his teammates out.
As far as I’m concerned, Bowen is a manager’s dream. He is hardly ever injury and is incredibly robust from a physical perspective.
Jarrod Bowen has clearly flown under Paul Merson’s radar
The 27-year-old possesses incredible energy and stamina levels, and always puts in a shift at both ends of the pitch.
However, he has genuine star quality as well. 30 goals and assists in 44 games last term certainly isn’t to be sniffed at.
It does not surprise me one little bit that the left-footed right winger has been linked with a big money move to Liverpool this summer, as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah.
The Hammers star has the quality needed to play at the very highest level but the good news for West Ham is that he’s under contract at the London Stadium until the summer of 2030.
He seems like a very loyal lad to me as well – someone who is more than happy with his life at the London Stadium.
I do hope that West Ham as a club manage to match his ambition though, because Jarrod deserves to win the very biggest trophies.
That said, Bowen is clearly not adored by everyone outside the London Stadium…
Paul Merson shares mind-boggling Jarrod Bowen verdict
The Hammers winger has had to make do with two substitute appearances for England out in Germany so far.
Considering how poor the Three Lions have been so far, he will surely be thinking he has a chance to start the game against Slovenia this week.
However, Merson Oobviously doesn’t think that should happen, somewhat bizarrely.
When speaking on Football’s Greatest podcast alongside Jeff Stelling, the well-renowned football pundit delivered his verdict on England’s current problems.
However, he offered an utterly bizarre take on West Ham star Jarrod Bowen…
Merson said, “He puts Bowen on. Bowen is alright if you want to keep a lead. You put him on the right, he’ll do what it says on the tin, he’ll block crosses and put crosses in.”
“You don’t put him on to win a game though in my opinion. You’ve got to put Palmer on who’s scored 20 goals this season, and can play with a bit of flair.”
To be fair to Palmer, he actually scored 25 goals for Chelsea and registered 15 assists in all competitions. However, Bowen bagged 20 himself, and chipped in with 10 assists.
Let’s not forget the elephant in the room though. Of Palmer’s 25 goals, nine of them were from the penalty spot.
Meanwhile, Bowen didn’t even take a spot-kick for the Hammers last season.
In those comments above, Paul Merson severely underplayed the quality of Jarrod Bowen – surely he didn’t watch him play for us last season?
His energy is infectious and you won’t get a more cool and composed finisher than him. Half the time, Merson just says things to be controversial.
This time though, I just think he was ignorant to Bowen’s quality. Hopefully Jarrod will make him realise how badly misjudged those comments were.
