West Ham reach breaking point as Jarrod Bowen's future in doubt after fan clash at Wolves
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(Credit: Sky Sports)
Oliver Walton
Tue 26 August 2025 22:31, UK
West Ham’s poor start to the season reached new lows in their Carabao Cup loss at Wolves, with Jarrod Bowen’s Irons future plunged into doubt after he was confronted by their fans following the game.
The Hammers were poor in each of their first two league games of the new campaign, with a 3-0 opening day defeat to newly-promoted Sunderland followed up by a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea on Friday (22 August).
Graham Potter’s side travelled to fellow top-flight strugglers Wolves on Tuesday (26 August) with both sides in search of a much-needed victory to lift spirits.
Wolves walked away with a 3-2 win thanks to a late brace from Jorgen Strand Larsen, after Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta had put West Ham in front following Rodrigo Gomes’ first-half opener.
It was an almighty collapse from Potter’s side, and tensions spilled over into a full-on clash between club-captain and star man Bowen and the Hammers’ travelling fans after the game, in a potential sign of his unrest at the East London outfit.
(Credit Imago)
West Ham looked set for victory with ten minutes left on the clock at Molineux, but the hosts’ introduction of star striker Strand Larsen turned the game on it’s head late on.
The Norway international scored two in two minutes just before the end to fire Wolves on the way to a cup win against the Irons, and Potter’s side barely even came close to fashioning a chance to equalise once again.
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Bowen was joined by his teammates as he went over to clap his side’s supporters who had made the long journey up from the capital, but he soon became visibly incensed at something that had likely been said by a fan and then had to be restrained from going over the advertising hoardings to reach the seats.
The England international then took his captain’s armband off as he was walking away from the scene of frustration, in a sure sign that he is clearly unhappy at the club’s current predicament under Potter.
Bowen has been West Ham’s best player for a number of years now, with 13 goals and eight assists in the Premier League last season, as well as 16 strikes and six assists in the campaign before that.
He is their talisman and epitomises everything positive at the club over recent seasons, so for fans to be goading him seems indicative of just how badly things must be going if he, of all people, is getting publicly criticised by supporters.
Bowen is usually a cool, collected player too, and so him getting clearly angry and frustrated is a rare sight, with Potter even more likely to get annoyed like that, despite his similarly composed nature.
(Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)
West Ham have heavily relied on Bowen’s output since his real breakthrough into their side in the 2021/22, and it goes without saying that losing him in this transfer window would be absolutely catastrophic to their already shrinking chances of survival.
The 28-year-old’s rare frustration does, however, paint the picture of a player who could be weighing up his future due to the Hammers’ poor prospects under Potter this season.
It is a World Cup year and he is already on the fringes of Thomas Tuchel’s squad, and so even playing well in a relegation-threatened side would likely be detrimental to his chances of going to the USA.
AppearancesGoalsAssists2417452Bowen’s West Ham career stats
He is also turning 29 before the turn of the year, and so will surely need to get a bigger move soon before it is too late and clubs are overlooking him due to his age.
Bowen’s role in Potter’s system has been questioned by West Ham fans, and he is still yet to score in their opening three games of the campaign, and his output seems unlikely to get any better, anytime soon, given their woes as a team.
He did apologise on Instagram after the game, but was always going to do so after such a tense confontation, and could still be reeling behind the scenes after he was their best player in the defeat.
A report following the end of last term implied that Bowen could leave West Ham this summer, with the club braced for transfer approaches, and while those have not materalised so far, this new bust-up could see interested sides make a late play to sign him while he is disillusioned with Potter and the fans.
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