- West Ham United’s relegation has cast Jarrod Bowen’s future at the London Stadium in doubt
- The club captain has been linked to Chelsea
- Read West Ham highlights Abdul Fatawu among options to replace Bowen
West Ham United’s summer window was always going to centre around one question: can they keep Jarrod Bowen?
Following the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship, the club captain said his immediate focus was on helping West Ham return to the Premier League, but the 29-year-old has not made any long-term commitments.
Despite the drop from the Premier League, Bowen remains the face of the club’s goals with a contract until 2030. Given West Ham’s precarious position, the 2023 Conference League winner has been earmarked as a sale to offset the more than £100 million shortfall in the club’s latest accounts, with reports linking him to Chelsea solidifying the belief that Bowen could be available for the right price.
Replacing a player who has been the club’s productive talisman for several seasons – scoring the winning goal to clinch their first major trophy in over 40 years – would be a monumental task.
So, as part of Read West Ham’s four-part series, we look at the three players the Hammers could sign to replace their wanted stars. Time for Bowen.
Abdul Fatawu
As a like-for-like Bowen successor goes, Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu ticks a lot of similarity boxes: capable of producing inward magic from his left boot and a dogged right-sided presence. In this Championship season, Fatawu averaged 2.7 shots per game – a similar tally to West Ham’s top scorer and one that would top the rest of the Hammers’ squad except striker Callum Wilson (2.8).
Following Leicester’s relegation to League 1, Fatawu has emerged as a wanted man with a host of clubs looking to exploit his dwindling club’s prospects in England’s third tier. The 22-year-old Ghanaian was the club’s leading contributor and a menacing presence in the Championship, averaging 2.8 successful dribbles per game (second-most in the league).
If Bowen departs, Fatawu will also avoid the positional conundrum that his compatriot Mohammed Kudus faced during his two seasons at the club, often being rotated in and out of positions to play alongside the former.
CIES Football Observatory, one of football’s most reputable statistical analysis platforms, values Fatawu at between €21 and € 24 million, half of what Bowen would command, allowing for a profitable flip. It’s a sensible strategy to take advantage of Leicester’s position, who will find it incredibly hard to ward off interest for their winger if he’s able to turn in a promising World Cup campaign with the Black Stars this summer.
Wilfried Gnonto
Another player who will be known to English football observers, unlike Fatawu, Gnonto’s stock has stagnated at Leeds United over the past year. Daniel Farke’s change in formation, which aided their Premier League survival, meant that the use of Gnonto, or any winger, for that matter, decreased compared to their Championship involvement.
Gnonto, who moved to Leeds in 2022 from FC Zürich after failing to break through at Inter Milan under Antonio Conte, would be a market opportunity for West Ham, who could definitely afford to test the negotiation table with a loan-to-buy offer for a player without a certified future at Elland Road.
22-year-old Gnonto has shown in his two seasons in the Championship during 2023 and 2025 that his vertical profile can harry second-division defences, with 17 goals and 9 assists in that time frame. In a similar fashion to Bowen, whose goal-scoring chops were cut at Hull City before joining West Ham in 2020, Gnonto may need a third year to refine his skillset in the physical demands before making the jump to the elite, which Nuno Espírito Santo’s side can offer.
Haissem Hassan
Shopping for Bowen’s replacement does not just mean going for obvious names. After all, the England international was a pronounced figure in West Ham’s offensive plans, which aimed to get him into goal-scoring positions. So, exploring alternatives that can offer a more inventive profile against the low-blocks the Hammers will be expected to face in the Championship would also be key. That’s where Haissem Hassan comes in.
The Real Oviedo loanee winger is a raw player, but one who is set to be on the shortlist of calculated scouting teams after his club’s relegation from La Liga. Oviedo’s first season back in the Spanish top flight served as a learning period for many, including Hassan, who now knows that his bravado, once harnessed, can explode.
Gradient Sports rates Hassan’s ball-carrying performance this season as the second-best in European football, and it’s easy to see why. Since his first professional steps with French side Chateauroux, the Egyptian has been a dynamic dribbler, gradually developing an understanding of how to use it to set up teammates.
The 24-year-old will enter the offseason with one year left on his deal with Oviedo after joining permanently from Villarreal last summer. With a World Cup on the horizon, with Egypt, the immediate attention will likely be on that, but depending on how well he fares in the North American heat, he may return a wanted man.
