Michael Owen Urges Liverpool to Sign Jarrod Bowen as Salah's Perfect Replacement

Michael Owen believes Liverpool have already been handed the ideal answer to life after Mohamed Salah – and his name is Jarrod Bowen.

The former Liverpool striker has long championed the West Ham captain, and with the Hammers now relegated from the Premier League, the conversation has suddenly shifted from theory to opportunity.

Owen’s verdict: “Absolute perfect replacement”

Owen, speaking on Premier League Productions, did not dance around his view of Bowen’s next step.

Under normal circumstances, he argued, Bowen’s deep roots in East London would keep him at West Ham. He wears the armband, he is adored in the stands, his family are from the area. He is, in every sense, their man.

But careers are short. Relegation changes everything.

“Jarrod Bowen is incredible, you’ve got a short career, I mean he has to be playing in the Premier League,” Owen said, before nailing his colours to the mast on Liverpool.

He has been consistent on this point for some time and sees no reason to backtrack now that Salah has left Anfield.

“I’ve said for a long time, I don’t make any apologies, Mo Salah has gone now from Liverpool, I think Bowen is the absolute perfect replacement for Mo Salah at Liverpool.”

That is not a throwaway line. Owen is effectively saying: if Liverpool want a wide forward who scores, creates, presses and works for the team, the template is already in claret and blue.

Bowen’s numbers back up the argument. In a struggling West Ham side that slid out of the division, he still produced nine goals and eleven assists across the campaign. While the club crumbled, his output held.

For Owen, that kind of resilience under pressure only strengthens the case.

“If an opportunity came along for him like that, to play for Liverpool, then even the most ardent West Ham fan couldn’t begrudge that,” he added. “Instead of playing in the Championship, go to one of the best teams in the world and fill Mo Salah’s boots, it’s really exciting for him.”

The message is clear: Liverpool need a right-sided forward with end product and big-game temperament. Bowen, in Owen’s eyes, ticks every box.

If that kind of move does not materialise, Owen can still see another path – Bowen staying to drag West Ham back up.

“However, if an opportunity doesn’t come from one of the big boys like that, then maybe he’ll fight his way back into the Premier League with West Ham.”

Bowen’s response: loyalty, pain and a clear “vision”

Bowen, for his part, is not ready to turn his back on West Ham in public.

Relegation on Sunday left emotions raw, and his post-match words reflected that. Asked about his future, he bristled at the idea of using the club’s lowest moment as a launchpad for transfer talk.

“Listen, it’s still very, very raw. Talking about futures is disrespectful to the club, the fans, everything like that,” he said.

“This club deserves to be in the Premier League. That’s our aim now, this season is done, our aim now is to get back in the Premier League. That’s as simple as it is.”

He went further, framing his stance not as indecision but as a commitment, at least in spirit, to the badge he currently wears.

“Like I said, it’s disrespectful to everyone to start speaking about futures and saying what’s going to happen,” Bowen continued.

“Like I said, I want this club to be in the Premier League. It’s a club that means so much to me, that’s given me so much, so my vision is getting this club back in the Premier League.”

Those are not the words of a player agitating for the exit. They are the words of a captain who feels the weight of a fanbase and a relegation on his shoulders.

Liverpool, West Ham and a pivotal summer

So the stage is set.

On one side, a West Ham talisman who insists his “vision” is to restore the club to the top flight, a player who has grown into the captaincy and carried the team through a grim season.

On the other, a Liverpool side entering a new era without Salah, under a new head coach, needing goals and reliability from the right flank.

Between them stands Jarrod Bowen, 27 years old, fresh from a season of double figures in goal contributions despite the chaos around him, and with one of Liverpool’s greatest modern strikers calling him the “absolute perfect” successor to a club legend.

Does he stay to lead a Championship promotion charge, or does he take the leap Owen is urging and step into Salah’s old territory at Anfield?

The answer will say plenty about Liverpool’s ambition, West Ham’s resolve – and Bowen’s own sense of how long a “short career” really is.