Boost for Danny Dyer! Jarrod Bowen tipped to make ‘worst years of your career’ transfer decision that keeps wife Dani & West Ham fanatic father-in-law happy

That situation could change quickly, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side currently locked in a battle to avoid suffering relegation out of the Premier League. A tumble back into the bottom three has been taken, as a trapdoor that leads into the Championship swings open.

London rivals Tottenham are only one point better off, and there are still nine to be played for across three remaining fixtures. A couple of wins may be required in order to beat the drop and keep collective heads above water.

Second tier football does not bear thinking about, with demotion likely to deliver an exodus of top talent. Mateus Fernandes has offered enough across his debut campaign with the Hammers to suggest that he would have plenty of suitors in another transfer window.

Various other members of the first-team squad would ask serious questions of their respective futures were an alarming backwards step to be taken, but would Bowen be among those considering a packing of bags?

He is club captain at West Ham and tied to a contract through to 2030. At 29 years of age, it would be a case of now or never were a potential opening at another elite club to be explored. Bowen is, however, settled in the East End alongside his partner, their children and extended family.

Dani has made no secret of the fact that she wants to remain close to home, while Hammers fanatic Danny would find it difficult to see a Conference League-winning hero from 2023 pull on the colours of another club.

With all of that being taken into account, is Bowen destined to remain in his current surroundings until his services are no longer required? When that question was put to Johnson, the West Ham academy graduate - speaking in association with BetMGM - told GOAL: “I think so, yeah. He's had links to other clubs, potentially bigger clubs and stuff like that, and this has never happened. For whatever reason, he didn't want it or the club didn't want it enough. So I think he's got a chance to stay there, become a club legend.

“They're a big West Ham family, which is obviously lovely. So for the sake of leaving for potentially the worst two or three years of your career somewhere else and lose that, to me, I'd rather stay.”

Bowen joined West Ham from Hully City for £22 million ($30m) in January 2020. He has become a reliable source of goals and assists since then, finding the target on 84 occasions across 277 appearances in all competitions.

The captain’s armband was passed in his direction during the summer of 2024, shortly after announcing his engagement to former Love Island contestant Dani, and he will be expected to lead from the front in a late bid to drag the Hammers clear of relegation danger and end any unwelcome exit talk.