Here’s what West Ham star’s international call up means for his club.
While you always want your club’s players to succeed, sometimes there can be a bit of internal conflict. For many, playing for your country is the biggest achievement that one can experience but that can significantly harm their club.
West Ham fans are understandably delighted for Jarrod Bowen over his return to the England squad, replacing one of nine players to drop out of the camp, but there are concerns.
Obviously the Hammers have been in poor form so far this season, and Julen Lopetegui presumably would have liked to have as many of his players in East London over the international break in order to try to put things right. Not having your captain and most important player makes that rather difficult.
What it may do though is give Bowen a massive confidence boost. Although he’s been far from poor this season, he’s certainly not been up to his usual standard. This is likely down to the overall performance of the squad, but it certainly won’t do him any harm in terms of morale to be called up to represent his country.
The main concern is the risk of injury. West Ham know far too well how common it is for players to get injured while away with their nation. They’ve already lost Niclas Fullkrug for an extended period due to injury, they’ve lost Kudus for 5 games due to suspension – the last thing they need is for Bowen to get hurt.