Jarrod Bowen’s phone started pinging on the Thursday evening, a flood of messages from friends, family members and acquaintances, all struggling to contain their excitement and all asking the same questions. Were the stories true? And if so, which club was he going to join?
For hours, Bowen decided to ignore them.
He ignored them when he went to say his goodbyes at Hull’s training ground on Friday morning. He ignored them when he traveled over to Leeds for the first part of his West Ham medical. And he ignored them during the long train journey to London, when the clock was ticking down and the move was still hanging in the balance.
“Even my mum, Bowen tells Sky Sports with a smile. “I felt so bad blanking her, but I did not want to tell her anything in case nothing happened. As soon as I signed the contract, about minutes before the deadline, I got straight on the phone to her, then to my mates . I had a lot of replying to do. Actually, I’ve only just got to the back-end of it now. “
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“It all happened quite quickly. I think the West Ham bid arrived on Thursday evening, so I woke up on Friday excited to see what the day brought.
“I knew there had been other teams Interested in January, but West Ham were the only ones that I knew had put a concrete offer in. The others, like Crystal Palace, came from nowhere a little bit and I was not aware that they had actually made an official bid.
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(In the end, it was a no-brainer to join West Ham, but I still needed to take five minutes to myself because it’s a big moment for anyone to move club, especially off the pitch when it involves moving to a big city. You’ve got to take every single factor into consideration because it’s a big decision in your life. It’s one that I’ve made now and I’m very happy. ”
Bowen eventually put pen to paper inside the London Stadium, where he had a chance to have a look around the ground and even introduce himself to manager David Moyes, who took time away from his preparations for West Ham’s meeting with Brighton to meet him personally.
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