Bowen pledges to stay at West Ham and fire relegated Hammers back to the top flight

Jarrod Bowen has confirmed he will remain at West Ham as the club prepares for life in the Championship, rejecting interest from Premier League sides to pledge his future to the relegated Hammers.

The 29-year-old captain had been widely expected to leave following West Ham’s relegation on the final day of last season, a drop that has already cost the club Mateus Fernandes — who joined Tottenham for £85m — with Crysencio Summerville also expected to depart. Instead, Bowen travelled to Prague to meet new majority shareholder Daniel Kretinsky and his associate Jiri Svarc, and came away persuaded by the ambition they outlined.

“The main motivation for me is staying and bringing this club back into the Premier League where we belong,” Bowen said. “We flew out to Prague in the Czech Republic to meet with Daniel and Jiri. The ambition that I got from them in terms of the direction the club wants to move in interested me a lot.”

Bowen acknowledged the pain of relegation but insisted it would serve as fuel rather than a reason to leave. “It hurt everyone and it should hurt everyone. It was such a disappointing thing but it doesn’t last forever,” he added.

The forward has been at West Ham for six and a half years, arriving from Hull City and developing into the club’s captain and talisman. He scored 11 goals and registered 12 assists last season — a fifth consecutive campaign in double figures for goal contributions — and has accumulated 85 goals and 63 assists across 280 appearances in all competitions.

Among those contributions was the winning goal in the 2023 UEFA Conference League final against Fiorentina, which delivered the club’s first trophy in 43 years. “I transitioned from a boy in the Championship into a man and now captain of the club,” Bowen said. “I see myself in years to come as a die-hard West Ham fan.”

Bowen holds 22 England caps but was not included in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for this summer’s World Cup. West Ham open their Championship campaign against Burnley on 16 August.