Harry Redknapp has named the key player who really makes West Ham tick and it’s not captain fantastic Declan Rice.
In every sense of the word Rice is West Ham’s most important player.
Not only is the Rice the heartbeat of the team and skipper in central midfield, he is a Hammers academy graduate, one of the first names on the England teamsheet and hands down West Ham’s most valuable asset.
Given his position on the pitch and his influence many would assume Rice is the one who dictates how West Ham perform and the results they achieve.
But former West Ham player and manager Redknapp does not see it that way.
Redknapp enjoyed a golden spell managing West Ham between 1994 and 2001 having played 175 times for the club as a winger.
The boyhood Hammer came through the club’s famed academy with the likes of immortal West Ham legend Bobby Moore.
Redknapp had a 37% win percentage as West Ham manager and brought some fantastic – and some not so fantastic – players to east London, playing attractive, attacking football along the way.
So he knows a player and what it takes to be a key man at West Ham.
Now Redknapp names the key player who really makes West Ham tick and it’s not Rice.
Speaking to The Evening Standard, Redknapp says Jarrod Bowen is in fact West Ham’s most important player.
Because when Bowen is firing on all cylinders he sets the tempo and makes the Hammers a completely different proposition.
“Bowen looks like he’s coming back to form now which is great because I think he’s an outstanding player for them,” Redknapp told The Evening Standard.
“They rely heavily on him and he looks like he’s suddenly hitting top form again.
“When he’s in form they’re a different team.”
Redknapp is absolutely spot on. Bowen was comfortably West Ham’s man of the match in the 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
If anyone deserved a goal on the day it was him.
He was a constant menace, defending from the front, harassing his marker and taking the game to the opposition.
Bowen’s energy, desire and commitment set the tone for West Ham’s performance and it was he who got West Ham on their way to a crucial win with his turn and assist for Danny Ings.
There was a reason Bowen was being linked with a £60m move to Liverpool in the summer.
He has admitted himself he put too much pressure on himself to be “perfect” when trying to win a place in England’s World Cup squad earlier this season.
But on this evidence he’s on fire again and just at the right time for West Ham.
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