Jarrod Bowen’s laser-guided finishing merely scratches the surface of the skipper’s importance to West Ham United.
The very best attackers in world football – and Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna believes Jarrod Bowen belongs amongst the best these days, having watched him tear the Tractor Boys apart at Portman Road – tend to lead not only by inspiration but through perspiration too.
One of a number of players who made the long and exhausting journey from non-league to the elite level, alongside Leicester legend Jamie Vardy and Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings, the West Ham United captain believes that his ‘work ethic’, rather than his natural-born quality, was what really lit the fuse for his development into a Premier League powerhouse.
“When I was 17 playing for Hereford, you would look at Jamie Vardy and Tyrone Mings. Those kind of players who did not come through the academy set-up and were playing in the top leagues and for their country,” Jarrod Bowen told the official Football Association website after earning his first England call-up in 2022.
“You just play your football. If you are good enough and have that work ethic, then it will take you a long way.”
Morten Frendrup, the Danish enforcer who may yet join Bowen at the London Stadium, is another who prides himself upon his formidable determination. Another who, thanks to that relentless drive on and off the pitch, has succeeded in making the very best of his talents.
And one who, alongside Bowen, may be the key to making Graham Potter’s preferred high-pressing style work as West Ham enter talks with the £17 million-rated Genoa star.
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Morten Frendrup could be a perfect fit for Graham Potter’s West Ham United
During those early top-flight days at Brighton and Hove Albion in 2021/22, Potter presided over the fourth-most aggressive out-of-possession team in the whole of the Premier League.
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Per Fbref, only Jurgen Klopp’s ‘gegenpressing’ Liverpool won the ball back in the final third more often than Brighton that term. Pep Guardiola’s Man City sat third.
Flash forward to 2024/25, and West Ham now rank 15th for the very same metric.
This is not to say there is only one route to success, of course. Nottingham Forest won the ball back in the final third less than any other team, and yet went into the final day dreaming of Champions League qualification thanks to their thrilling counter-attacking style.
Yet, Graham Potter’s success at Brighton was built around a front-foot, high-pressing, high-possession gameplan. A gameplan which – largely due to an ill-fitting squad – has yet to take shape at the London Stadium.
Signing Morten Frendrup, however, could represent Potter’s best chance of translating that Brighton brilliance onto West Ham.
Frendrup won possession in the final third 27 times for Genoa in the 2024/25 Serie A season. The next best, Como’s Gabriel Strefezza, managed only 17.
That tally of 27 would also see Frendrup finish joint top of the Premier League charts, alongside his Denmark teammate and the outstanding Brentford dynamo Mikkel Damsgaard. Perhaps the most underrated footballer in England’s top flight.
Jarrod Bowen, for context, is West Ham’s most effective high presser. The tireless forward won back possession 16 times in the opposition’s final third this season.
Furthermore, the contrast between Frendrup – who musters the most tackles in Italian football – and West Ham’s current midfield options highlights just how much of a difference he would make to Graham Potter’s roster.
Edson Alvarez won the ball back eight times in the final third. James Ward-Prowse, four. Guido Rodriguez did not manage it even once.
Frendrup has been likened to Chelsea icon N’Golo Kante
Simply put, West Ham’s existing midfield roster is pretty much the complete antithesis to what Graham Potter would ideally like out of possession. Sluggish, safe, and happy to let the opposition keep possession for large spells.
Morten Frendrup, in contrast, is precisely the opposite. And precisely what this Potter-led West Ham United team is lacking.
“Morten Frendrup reminds me of N’Golo Kante,” Jacek Kulig wrote on his Football Talent Scout blog, likening the then-Brondby ace to arguably the finest, most transformative ball-winning midfielder of his generation.
“Big comparison, I know, but they share some of the same traits. They are not the biggest or most intimidating midfielders, but they are both fast, great at reading the game, and they intercept almost everything.
“Both players are also good dribblers of the ball, and Kante has evolved into a well-rounded midfielder with offensive abilities, which also could become the case with Morten Frendrup.”
Three years after his £3 million move from Brondby to Genoa, Kulig’s desire to see Frendrup develop his on-the-ball talents has not gone unheeded.
Frendrup completed only 66 per cent of his passes on average during that first few months in Italy. In the season just gone, however, 85.9 per cent of his passes hit the target.
Unsurprisingly, the appointment of a bonafide midfield great in Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has resulted in Frendrup adding yet more strings to his bow.
“This season, under Frenchman Patrick Vieira, the Dane has found himself being used as more of an anchor in the midfield, being vitally important in the defensive phases of play,” explain Breaking the Lines.
“Known for his combative spirit, he’s been regarded as a warrior in the midfield.”
With Jarrod Bowen bringing that British bulldog spirit in attack, West Ham’s ever-stalling machine may yet receive the V8 engine it so clearly needs.