West Ham United have this evening issued a brief but very ambitious statement on the future of both head coach Nuno Espirito Santo and captain Jarrod Bowen.
The Hammers dropped out of the Premier League on 39 points, the most a relegated side has amassed since they set the record by going down with 42.
With relegation comes grave consequences for any club, let alone West Ham which recorded £104m losses in their latest accounts and owe a staggering £196m in transfer instalments to other clubs.
West Ham have already made it clear players must be sold this summer to help plug the financial black hole created by falling off the Premier League gravy train.
West Ham issue bold statement on future of Nuno and Bowen
That has raised the prospect of losing beloved captain Jarrod Bowen, who will undoubtedly attract attention from clubs in the top flight.
Relegation also looked set to see manager Nuno Espirito Santo depart.
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The Hammers have a break clause in Nuno’s three-year deal in the event of relegation.
A host of names have been linked as potential replacements from Scott Parker and Slaven Bilic to Craig Bellamy and even Nuno’s assistant Paco Jemez.
Bowen appeared to suggest he wanted to stay and help West Ham back into the big time when he was interviewed by multiple outlets after relegation was confirmed on Sunday.
However, the tide seemed to change earlier when Bowen appeared to be deliberately non-committal on his West Ham future in a new statement on social media.
West Ham issued a six-word response after Nuno talks ended in stalemate.
But the script appears to have been flipped on the future of the manager too with reports Nuno could now stay.
Hammers board ‘hopeful’ both Nuno and Bowen will be staying
With so much uncertainty around the club, Hammers News pressed the top spokesman for West Ham’s joint chairs David Sullivan, Daniel Kretinsky and Vanessa Gold for an update on Nuno and Bowen.
And the short but very sweet response was hugely encouraging.
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Because West Ham’s board boldly hope BOTH the head coach and skipper will be going nowhere.
“Hopefully both stay,” West Ham’s senior spokesman told Hammers News on Tuesday evening.
Whatever your stance on whether Nuno should have done better to keep West Ham up, he does have experience of getting out of the Championship after winning the title with Wolves.
Sometimes it is a case of better the devil you know and Nuno already knows the club and will be motivated to right the wrongs of this season.
Thomas Tuchel has made it clear Bowen is well down the pecking order with England.
And at 30 next season, it seems highly unlikely any truly top Champions League clubs would be in for the Hammers skipper.
If West Ham can somehow keep Bowen in the second tier it would go a long way to guaranteeing promotion back to the Premier League.
Bowen would threaten the 30-goal mark in the Championship with ease.
If West Ham do tie down the manager and captain then it should get fans on board for next season – as long as it is accompanied by wholesale changes to the way the club is run and recruitment.
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