Liverpool's Potential Signing: Bowen as a Solution After Salah
Liverpool told Bowen is a ‘no-risk’ answer to life after Salah
The numbers are brutal for West Ham and Jarrod Bowen. Relegated after 14 straight years in the Premier League, 38 games, nine goals, 11 assists – and still not enough to keep the Hammers up.
For Bowen, though, the story might just be about to turn.
A captain going down, a giant looking up
West Ham’s drop into the Championship has thrown open a door that rarely appears for clubs like Liverpool: a proven Premier League match‑winner, in his peak years, suddenly available at a cut price.
Bowen, 29, is captain, talisman and symbol of West Ham’s fight, but with four years left on his contract and the club now out of the top flight, his future looks almost certain to lie elsewhere.
Liverpool, staring at the reality of life without Mohamed Salah, are right in the frame.
Salah is leaving Anfield on a free transfer this summer after nine extraordinary years, 257 goals in 442 games and four Premier League Golden Boots. He sits fourth on the all-time Premier League scoring list with 193 goals. Replacing that kind of output is close to impossible. You don’t replicate it. You manage the drop-off.
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy believes Bowen is exactly the sort of signing that lets the club do just that.
‘No risk’ – Murphy’s verdict on Bowen
Speaking on talkSPORT’s Kick Off on Monday, Murphy didn’t hesitate when asked by Natalie Sawyer whether Bowen would be a good fit at Anfield.
“I wouldn’t be disappointed seeing him at Liverpool,” he said. “He’s got goals in him. He’s got assists in him, he’s durable. I think he’s good enough.”
Murphy pointed to Liverpool’s usual recruitment model – young, high resale value, room to grow – and admitted Bowen doesn’t tick those boxes. At 29, he’s not one for the future, and he won’t be flipped for a profit.
That, in Murphy’s eyes, is exactly why the deal makes sense.
“There’s a criteria generally that Liverpool stick to… and he doesn’t really fit in that in terms of age, potential profit and all those types of things,” he said. “So it’d be a change of tact, but I think if you want value for money, you might just get him for a fee that you wouldn’t be able to get (a top quality player).”
The market for elite right-sided forwards is savage. Everyone knows Liverpool need one. Everyone knows what Salah has been. That inflates prices before talks even start.
“You’re going to have to pay for a top quality player on that right hand side,” Murphy added. “You’re going to have to pay £50m to £80m, aren’t you. But with him going down to the Championship, I reckon you’d be looking at maybe £20m, £30m at most.
“But let’s say it was £20m because he’s desperate to get out and then get him off the wage bill, then it’s no risk.”
A Premier League‑hardened winger, double figures for goal contributions, comfortable on the right, and potentially half – or less – of the going rate. In a summer when Liverpool have several areas to address, Murphy sees Bowen as the straightforward box to tick.
“He’s not going to get Salah’s numbers, they’re just ridiculous,” he admitted. “But tried and tested every year in the Premier League.”
The No.11 question
One thing Murphy would not pile on Bowen’s shoulders is the weight of Salah’s shirt.
Asked whether Bowen should inherit the iconic No.11, he was cautious. “I wouldn’t put that on him. If he wanted it, I’d give it to him, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about that.”
The message was clear: don’t ask Bowen to be Salah. Ask him to be Bowen – a relentless runner, direct, creative, and reliable over 38 games.
Murphy stressed that Liverpool should still aim at the very top of the market where possible. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting Liverpool shouldn’t be going for top stars,” he said.
He even floated a dream scenario, mentioning Kvicha Kvaratskhelia as the kind of A‑list arrival that would transform the front line, while acknowledging the reality of prising such a player away once he has “won everything” at a club like PSG and publicly expressed admiration for Liverpool. If a player of that calibre is gettable, Murphy says, go for him.
But in a window where Liverpool’s to‑do list is long, Bowen, in his view, is the sensible, low‑risk move that stabilises one of the most important positions on the pitch.
Slot’s rebuild and the wider transfer picture
Arne Slot walks into Anfield with both an opportunity and a problem. A fifth‑place finish last season has sharpened the club’s appetite for change, and Salah’s departure only intensifies the urgency.
Liverpool are expected to recruit heavily. The plan is to bring in either two wingers or a right‑sided forward plus a more versatile attacker who can move across the front line.
Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig has emerged as the leading target. The Ivorian international is seen as a strong stylistic fit to step into Salah’s role, but that kind of potential comes at a premium. Leipzig value him at around £86m, and Liverpool are not alone in the chase: Paris Saint‑Germain and Manchester United are also circling.
Bradley Barcola and Anthony Gordon are on the list as well, both offering different profiles and price points, both likely to command serious money.
This is where Bowen’s name refuses to go away. While Diomande, Barcola and Gordon are being weighed up in boardrooms and scouting meetings, Bowen is already proven in the Premier League, already carrying the burden of being a club’s main attacking threat, already showing he can deliver across a full season.
With West Ham in the Championship and Liverpool juggling multiple priorities across the squad, a £20m–£30m deal for a ready-made right winger starts to look less like a punt and more like a calculated move.
Liverpool cannot replace Salah the individual. No one can.
What they can do is build a new attack in which the goals and assists are shared out, the risk is spread, and the budget stretches a little further.
That is where Jarrod Bowen, relegated but far from diminished, might yet find himself stepping out at Anfield, not as the new Salah, but as the first major signing of the Slot era.
