Bowen 2.0: West Ham targeting move to sign "incredible" £15m star
da supremo： West Ham United supporters are demanding that their team be busy in this transfer window.
da aposte e ganhe： So far, the Irons’ biggest move in the market is selling Mohammed Kudus to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur for a reported fee of £55m which, fair to say, has not gone down well!
The arrival of full-backs El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters have done little to quell the anger in East London, with Graham Potter in desperate need of reinforcements, but are the Hammers set to make a new signing, reminiscent of Jarrod Bowen’s arrival five years ago?
West Ham's search for a new goalkeeper
There are plenty of areas of the West Ham squad that could do with improving this summer, one of which is certainly goalkeeper, as outlined by the table below.
West Ham’s goalkeepers 2024/25 Premier League statistics
Statistics
Alphonse Areola
PL rank
Łukasz Fabiański
PL rank
Minutes
2,260
18th
1,160
22nd
Saves
77
15th
50
21st
Save %
64.3%
20th
74.6%
2nd
Goals conceded per 90
1.63
6th
1.63
7th
Clean sheet %
20%
13th
15.4%
17th
Post shot xG – goals conceded
-2.6
36th
+1.6
12th
% of crosses prevented
3.8%
21st
4.5%
18th
Punches
10
17th
9
19th
High claims
15
19th
9
24th
Average SofaScore rating
6.87
34th
7.08
18th
Statistics courtesy of FBref.com and SofaScore
As the table shows, neither the form of Alphonse Areola nor Łukasz Fabiański was particularly impressive last season, both ranking generally pretty lowly for the vast majority of metrics.
Despite actually seeing fewer minutes, the Polish international’s numbers were more impressive, but the 40-year-old has been released this summer, leaving the French World Cup winner as the current number one. He started Saturday’s Premier League Summer Series clash with Manchester United, but the Irons are seemingly targeting an upgrade.
That’s because, as noted by Will Unwin of the Guardian, the Hammers are targeting a move to sign Sheffield United goalkeeper Michael Cooper.
West Ham had previously been ‘interested’ in signing Mads Hermansen from Leicester City, but have now turned their attention to Cooper, who Alan Nixon and Henry Tomlinson of the Sun claim is valued at around £15m by the Blades.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
So, could he soon swap South Yorkshire for East London?
How Michael Cooper would improve West Ham
After beginning his senior career at Plymouth Argyle, making 161 appearances for the Pilgrims, Cooper joined Sheffield United for a reported fee of £4m just last summer and certainly impressed at Bramall Lane.
After his debut, Cooper featured in 46 of Sheffield United’s 47 EFL Championship fixtures, including the gut-wrenching play-off final defeat to Sunderland at Wembley, with Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout heralding his “incredible” form in the past.
Meantime, Nancy Frostick of the Athletic labels him a ‘strong all-rounder’ who is ‘capable of game-changing saves’ as well as boasting ‘effective distribution’, forecasting that he is ‘destined for great things’.
His statistics in the Championship certainly support these assertions.
Michael Cooper EFL Championship statistics 2024/25
Statistics
Cooper
Championship rank
Saves
109
8th
Save %
79.6%
2nd
Clean sheets
21
2nd
Clean sheet %
48.8%
3rd
Post-shot xG – goals conceded
+6.5
5th
% of crosses prevented
9.6%
1st
High claims
54
1st
Average SofaScore rating
7.19
4th
Statistics courtesy of FBref.com and SofaScore
As the table outlines, Cooper ranks highly for all goalkeeping metrics included, most notably shot-stopping and high claims, statistics that weren’t particularly impressive when it came to West Ham’s current goalkeeper Areola.
He would not be the first player West Ham have signed from the EFL in recent times, as documented below.
West Ham signings from EFL clubs (2017-present)
Players
Year joined
Fee
West Ham appearances
Crysencio Summerville
2024
£25m
22
James Ward-Prowse
2023
£30m
67
Maxwel Cornet
2022
£17.5m
37
Saïd Benrahma
2020
£26m
155
Jarrod Bowen
2020
£22m
238
Jordan Hugill
2018
£10m
3
Marko Arnautović
2017
£20m
65
Robert Snodgrass
2017
£10m
86
All information courtesy of Transfermarkt
Fair to say, West Ham have spent plenty of money signing EFL stars in recent years, a few of which have been massive flops; looking at you, Maxwel Cornet and Jordan Hugill!
Unquestionably, however, the best signing of them all is the £22m spent to bring in Jarrod Bowen from Hull City in January 2020.
Now the club captain, Bowen has scored 74 goals in 238 appearances for the Irons, most memorably bagging the winner in the Europa Conference League Final against Fiorentina in Prague, securing the club’s first major silverware since winning the FA Cup in 1980.
Speaking to Goal, Michail Antonio jokingly stated that Bowen “needs to leave”, given that he is just 12 goals behind Antonio’s all-time Premier League goals record for the club of 68, a record he’s expecting will be broken this season.
So, while Cooper will have to go a long way to have the impact in East London that Bowen has had, the goalkeeper certainly has the potential to be another transformational signing, especially when considering the Hammers’ ongoing issues in that position.
Related Better move than Wilson: West Ham open first talks to sign "exciting" CF
West Ham are looking to sign a striker or two this summer
