Hammers boss David Moyes has lifted the lid on what he has heard privately about West Ham star Jarrod Bowen.
Bowen has been on fire for West Ham this season until the injury that forced him off at Liverpool stopped the attacker in his tracks.
The West Ham star has been out ever since and has been sorely missed.
The mysterious Bowen injury has had West Ham medics stumped according to Hammers boss Moyes.
And it also scuppered any chance of a touted maiden England squad call-up for the March internationals.
Speculation has been rife since the October and November international squad selections that Bowen was in Gareth Southgate’s thoughts.
Many pundits and fans tipped Bowen for a call-up in the March Three Lions squad.
His injury put paid to that of course. But there has been no mention of Bowen by Southgate, who has gone out of his way to make clear that other players who are injured would have been called up.
That has led to some questioning whether Bowen was set for his first England call-up after all.
But now in an interview with Alan Shearer for The Athletic, Moyes lifts the lid on what he has heard about West Ham star Bowen and it seems he was set for that first ever England call.
David Moyes lifts the lid on what he has heard about West Ham star Jarrod Bowen
“I hope we’ve got England internationals (at West Ham),” Moyes told The Athletic.
“We’ve got Declan Rice at the moment. With a bit of luck we might have had Jarrod Bowen if it hadn’t been for injury.
“Suddenly young Ben Johnson has been called into the England Under-21s. We’ve got two or three boys from the academy in the England Under-20s and the under-19s. Last year our under-23s were on the verge of getting relegated. This year they’re challenging Man City to win the league. So there’s a huge upturn. We have to make sure we keep the bar high.”
There was promising news when West Ham confirmed a scan showed no significant damage to Bowen’s foot after the game at Liverpool.
West Ham’s medical chief Richard Collinge confirmed Bowen would face further assessment but the forward has been out ever since.
Speaking in a recent pre-match press conference, Moyes said the mysterious Bowen injury had West Ham medics stumped.
Rumours have abound that the striker had fractured a bone in his foot.
But West Ham are hopeful he will be back in and around the squad for the Everton game on April 3rd ahead of that Europa League quarter-final first leg against Lyon four days later.