West Ham fire sale?! Hammers may be forced to sell Jarrod Bowen as Man Utd and Spurs monitor winger amid financial woes

West Ham revealed their accounts on Friday and announced a staggering loss of £104.2 million ($140m), which is, by far, the biggest loss the club have suffered since their return to the Premier League in 2012. That comes at the same time as a swelling of the wage bill to £176m ($237m) after a summer of investment saw the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Niklas Fullkrug arrive at the club, and within their statement, the Irons warn that relegation would be a "severe scenario", and that player trading may be required in order to make up for losses incurred.

The statement reads: “The Group’s principal business risk remains that of the men’s football club being relegated from the Premier League with the serious financial consequences which follow.

“The Club continues to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and expects to do so in the future as the new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rules are introduced in the forthcoming years.”

Per Teamtalk, United are interested in signing Bowen this summer, and the threat of relegation is very real for Nuno Espirito Santo's side. They currently sit 18th in the Premier League table, two points behind Nottingham Forest in 17th. Bowen has a long-term contract that runs until 2030 but it is unclear if there is a relegation release clause in his deal. Spurs have a long-standing interest in signing the player, and they have enquired about him in the past. They face their own relegation battle, though, as they sit 16th, just four points clear of the Hammers. Should they survive, they could potentially launch a move for the winger. 

Bowen is, understandably, desperate to avoid relegation to the Championship.

He has told his team-mates: “We’ve all got to continue stepping up, that’s the situation that we find ourselves in. We know outside noise happens and, I think it’s individually, for one, how you deal with that, but certainly as a group we can take criticism from each other and I think it’s an important time to be criticising each other.

“In the situation that we’re in, we need everyone pointing fingers and people to accept that responsibility, which we’re doing. I think we’ve seen a change certainly in the last few weeks.

“It’s not easy, don’t get me wrong. It’s not easy, and that’s not an excuse, because this is where we find ourselves from what we’ve done at the start of the season, so now we have to fight our way out of it, and we’ve certainly got enough, not just talking about quality, but talking about characters and people who are grabbing each other by the scruff of the neck when times are tough.

“It needs to be like that, and that’s certainly a pleasing thing in a changing room, when you can look at your teammate next to you and go, yeah, he’s got my back and I’ve got his back.”

West Ham face Liverpool this weekend in a huge clash at both ends of the table. The Hammers desperately need to pick up points swiftly.