As West Ham returned to pre-season training following the club’s disastrous relegation all eyes were on captain Jarrod Bowen.
The Hammers reported back to Rush Green on Monday for the first day of what promises to be a gruelling, marathon campaign to get back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
West Ham have only been strong enough to make the play-offs in each of their last three seasons in the Championship down the years.
This year everyone at the club, from new majority owner Daniel Kretinsky to head coach Nuno Espirito Santo and the fans, expects automatic promotion at the very least.
Bowen’s interaction with Nuno gives West Ham hope
Key to securing that will be the retention of key players – none more so than skipper Jarrod Bowen.
There has been incessant speculation over Bowen’s future.
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But Hammers News has consistently reported that Bowen has told the club he wants to stay and Kretinsky has made it clear West Ham do not need to sell players for financial reasons.
West Ham have a core group of players they want to keep to help Nuno secure the Championship title.
Kretinsky is backing Nuno to blow rivals away as five top West Ham targets are named with head of recruitment Nils Koppen now in place and set straight to work on signings.
Keeping Bowen and other key stars will be just as important, though.
So Bowen’s interaction with Nuno on their return to West Ham training gives real hope.
West Ham have released behind-the-scenes footage from the first day back at training.
Happy and smiling Bowen embraces Nuno behind-the-scenes
Bowen looks happy, content and is seen welcoming his teammates back – showing his commitment to the cause as captain.
Cameras then show Bowen and Nuno cuddling as they meet again with both all smiles.
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The skipper is then spotted chatting with teammates in the canteen and it will give Hammers fans great encouragement he really will be staying to fire the team back to the big time.
Pictures also show Bowen laughing with teammates and staff as he works out on an exercise bike.
Other key stars the Hammers want to keep, including Konstantinos Mavropanos and Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos, also looked happy as they returned to Rush Green.
West Ham’s Performance Director Richard Collinge explained what the first day of pre-season was all about.
“This is an important day for the Medical and Sports Science team to undertake baseline tests,” Collinge said.
“The concept is that we can retrospectively use such data to assess how the players present currently from a physical and cognitive standpoint, set individually targeted injury prevention programmes and also revisit the tests throughout the duration of the season as markers of preparedness to train and play.”
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