As if Jarrod Bowen in full flow was not a fearsome enough proposition for Premier League backlines, the West Ham United captain is hoping to unlock a brand-new speciality heading into the 2025/26 campaign.
And, if Saturday’s pre-season clash with Manchester United at the MetLife Stadium is anything to go by, the skipper is making very good progress.
Hitting the target 13 times last season, Jarrod Bowen is now potentially just one year away from overtaking Michail Antonio as the most prolific Premier League goalscorer in West Ham United’s history.
The gap currently stands at 12.
He has already moved onto the list of West Ham’s all-time top-20 goalscorers, exceeding the likes of Carlton Cole and Trevor Morley.
Only nine of those 70 Hammers strikes have been recorded as coming from his weaker right boot, however. A tally Bowen hopes to increase in the coming months.
Jarrod Bowen wants more right-footed goals at West Ham United
Ayden Heaven came in for some criticism in New Jersey over the weekend, allowing Bowen the space to fire past Altay Bayindir and halve West Ham’s deficit.
Yet, the Manchester United youngster can probably be excused for letting Bowen go down the outside onto his right. The alternative, of course, would be to allow the West Ham talisman to cut in onto his favoured, and often lethal, left boot.
Bowen was labelled the ‘English Arjen Robben’ by some in his younger days, due to his penchant for drifting in and curling shots at goal a la the legendary Bayern Munich southpaw. Speaking to the club’s official media channels, however, the long-serving 28-year-old feels that it is not too late to establish himself as a more varied, versatile finisher.
“Because I’m an attacker, I do a lot of shooting to try and improve my weaker foot,” Bowen reveals. “It’s important as an attacker to try and score as many goals [as I can].
According to Stat Bunker, Bowen has netted 25 right-footed goals across his entire career, from a tally of 121, compared to 81 with his left and 14 headers.
“Shooting with my right foot is something I’ve been working on for five or six years now, maybe even longer from my days at Hull,” adds a man five-and-a-half years into his London Stadium career.
“When you’re a winger playing on the opposite side you often find yourself in those sorts of positions, and you want to keep the defender guessing.
“I’m always looking to get better, in any way I can. Every day after training, I’ll do ten shots on my right foot and some of them don’t go as well as they did [against Man United in New Jersey]! Some go in different directions, but it’s important to keep working on things and trying to improve.
“Today it went in, and to score here at the MetLife was really cool. My Dad is a [New York] Giants fan! Unfortunately he wasn’t here, but it’s still a nice touch.”
Graham Potter hails ‘fantastic’ Bowen after Manchester United defeat
Picking up where he left off at the end of 2023/24, Bowen earned Graham Potter’s praise for a typically marauding assist to set up Andy Irving’s opener in the 3-1 win over Grasshopper Zurich in mid-July.
That electrifying solo effort against Man United means the skipper is averaging a goal or an assist every match in pre-season so far, while the prospect of Bowen unlocking his right-footed potential promises to double the fear in the hearts of Premier League central-defenders and full-backs.
“Jarrod scored a fantastic goal,” Potter said after that narrow defeat by Ruben Amorim’s men, Bowen coming close to a late equaliser when Bayindir tipped his fizzing drive over the crossbar.
“I think it was JC [Jean-Clair Todibo] and then Tomas [Soucek who started the move]. And then once you get Jarrod in those situations he can go either side.
“It was a fantastic finish. I was just right behind him and it was a great goal.”
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