Jarrod Bowen declares intention to stay at West Ham despite relegation

Jarrod Bowen has said he intends to remain with West Ham after the club’s relegation to the Championship. The forward has attracted interest from Premier League teams but has spelled out his desire to stay after a summer during which he travelled to Prague for talks with the largest shareholder, Daniel Kretínsky.

“I feel like we’re moving in the right direction as a club,” Bowen told West Ham’s media channels. “There’s a lot of thinking time over the summer and a lot of things that go in your head. But I look in years and years to come of when I retire, what’s going to bring me the most happiness. For me now that’s getting this club back into the Premier League.”

Bowen has been at West Ham since January 2020, joining from Hull, which was the last time he played in the second tier. Any hope the 29-year-old has of getting back into Thomas Tuchel’s England plans will surely be extinguished by staying at West Ham but the captain, who has a contract to 2030, said it was “a no-brainer for me to be here”. Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool, United and Chelsea have been monitoring his situation.

Bowen said of his discussions with Kretinsky and Jiri Svarc, a board member: “I flew out to Prague in the Czech Republic to meet Daniel and Jiri and the ambition that I got from them, certainly in terms of the direction the cub wants to move in, it interests me a lot. It didn’t take a lot for me, because this club means a lot to me.”

West Ham needed to raise money through sales after relegation and have received £85m from Tottenham for Matheus Fernandes. The winger Crysencio Summerville, who is on the radar of Manchester United among other clubs, is expected to leave, as are Aaron Wan‑Bissaka and Jean-Clair Todibo.