It was a day of goodbyes as West Ham United closed out the Premier League season with a typically Jarrod Bowen-inspired 3-1 win at Ipswich Town.
Exactly how many goodbyes, though, only time will tell.
West Ham United have already confirmed that Vladimir Coufal, Danny Ings and Lukasz Fabianski will depart when their contracts expire this summer. Aaron Cresswell is leaving too, bringing an end to eleven years of loyal service in claret and blue.
Whether this is the last the Hammers faithful see of the likes of Tomas Soucek, Edson Alvarez, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus, meanwhile, remains to be seen.
Lucas Paqueta looked very much like a man saying goodbye at full-time, and Kudus did not even celebrate after rattling home the visitors’ third of the afternoon at Portman Road.
At least the Hammers faithful can sleep a little easier when it comes to the future of their talismanic skipper.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Aaron Cresswell hails Jarrod Bowen after West Ham United farewell
Jarrod Bowen has no plans to leave the London Stadium, throwing the ball into David Sullivan’s court when insisting that the only way a departure will come about is if the West Ham bosses decide to cash in.
During yet another standout performance – ex-England striker Darren Bent believes Jarrod Bowen is a Champions League-level player and it is increasingly difficult to disagree – the club’s top scorer fizzed home a stunning long-range strike and assisted James Ward-Prowse’s opener in East Anglia.
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
So, on a day of tributes to the departing Cresswell, West Ham’s Conference League-winning left-back made certain to return the favour when talking about a player whose loyalty appears unchanged despite another underwhelming Premier League campaign.
“[Bowen] has been incredible, and not just this season,” Cresswell smiles. “You look at, since he joined the Club, his numbers, his leadership. He is someone you can look to around the dressing room and rely on no matter what.
“Through the low moments and through the high moments, he’s still going to be the same Jarrod. There’s no better player to wear the armband for me.”
Bowen says Cresswell ‘will be remembered forever’ at West Ham
Bowen inherited the captaincy last summer after Kurt Zouma departed for Qatar.
His experience may prove to be even more important next term, with Cresswell, Coufal, Fabianski, Soucek and Alvarez all potentially heading for the exit.
“[Cresswell] has been a credit to himself,” Bowen says of his long-time teammate. “Since the news came out that he was leaving, you wouldn’t have known. And I think that’s a credit to Cress himself, the way that he applies himself every single day in training. He’s such a big character at this Club and will be remembered forever.
“We go to Manchester United away, and he puts in a Man of the Match performance there, and then against Nottingham Forest as well, he comes out with another strong performance.
“And I think, for me, that’s one of the biggest things that Cress can look at himself and wear with pride. Today, he got the moment that I think he thoroughly deserved, against the club that we signed him from and finishing in front of our fans that he’s also played in front of for eleven years.
“For me, it’s been a pleasure to be in the dressing room with Cress and to be a teammate and a friend as well. We’ve had some really good moments and had some real low moments as well, but we’ve always come out with a smile on our face, and we’ve always got each other’s back.
“I’ll always remember him, and he got every moment that he got today.”
Interestingly, Aaron Cresswell did not rule out a return to Ipswich when asked about his future in the build up to Sunday’s clash.
Even with his 36th birthday only months away, the former Portman Road favourite feels there are still some blank chapters remaining before his story is complete.