Thomas Tuchel is not one to mince his words and has now revealed three Arsenal players and other England hopefuls must start matching West Ham talisman Jarrod Bowen.
West Ham legend – and son-in-law of Jarrod Bowen – Danny Dyer may be biased, but he made an important point about Arsenal star Bukayo Saka last week.
Dyer said he “has his own opinion” that Gunners ace Saka is an independent choice ahead of West Ham boss Bowen for the right-hand side of England’s attack – pointing to his son-in-law’s superior numbers despite playing on the worse side.
To add insult to injury, Saka’s Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke even started ahead of West Ham’s Bowen when England played Uruguay.
The Arsenal trio were questioned when Tuchel left Bowen off his inactives list
The injury meant that Bowen replaced Dueuke in the first half. And with Madueke joining Saka from the Three Lions back at Arsenal, Bowen looked certain to start against Japan.
Thomas Tuchel once again underestimated Bowen, however, as he was limited to other local appearances.
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With limited time and opportunities, things have not been looking up for Bowen in an England shirt – and he is struggling to find form at West Ham before Tuchel announces his World Cup squad at the end of next month.
Many pundits, journalists and fans are predicting that Bowen will be missed.
But Tuchel has inadvertently made it clear that Arsenal’s trio and other stars must match West Ham’s Bowen to make the flight.
Tuchel admitted that “the net figures (goals and assists) of our players – apart from Harry (Kane) – are not the outstanding figures that we would expect.
He said: “I wish they had more numbers.”
Tuchel named the players he expects to score more goals and assists than they are – picking out Saka, Madueke and their Arsenal teammate Eberechi Eze.
Only Kane has more goals and assists than Bowen in World Cup finals
The German also reported that Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Phil Foden should also bring more to the table in terms of goals and assists.
One player not singled out for criticism among England’s forwards was Hammers captain Bowen.
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And it’s clear to see why.
Tuchel is a man of few words. In fact, they are often carefully selected and calculated.
The reason Bowen was not mentioned by Tuchel is because he is the only England striker Kane is putting up the numbers he is talking about – and the West Ham man is not having a good time with his very high ratings.
Despite taking over a struggling club, Bowen has 14 Premier League appearances this season.
That’s every English striker in the Premier League and just behind Bayern Munich star Kane overall.
For context, Saka and Madueke have just 12 combined between them for Arsenal – the league leaders.
Kane is on 36, but West Ham’s Bowen is second on 14.
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has 12 appearances as the leading scorer for the side fighting for a Champions League place and only Danny Welbeck (12) and Morgan Gibbs-White (11) come anywhere close.
Bowen may not have had a lasting impression on his England career – but then who does?
Tuchel has publicly questioned whether Phil Foden will make the squad while calling out others for not having enough numbers.
If that’s any barometer, the good news for West Ham is that Bowen has plenty of incentive to improve on his 14 goals and assists in the last seven games.
What a fitting end to the season it would be for Bowen to keep the Hammers firmly in the running for the World Cup.
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