It was Jarrod Bowen who netted the dramatic last-minute winner for West Ham towards Fiorentina on that memorable evening of European glory in June 2023 to etch his title into the membership’s historical past books.
And Bowen committing his future to the membership is maybe higher than any summer season signing West Ham may have made.
Bowen has been the membership’s prime goalscorer in 4 of the previous 5 seasons, netting 76 occasions in 227 video games in all competitions.
He has additionally offered 53 assists and signalled his intent for the present marketing campaign in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Portsmouth within the EFL Cup, scoring one and organising one other.
An England worldwide, a participant of his pedigree may show invaluable.
“It was a no brainer for me to be right here and the imaginative and prescient is obvious,” mentioned Bowen after confirming he would keep on the London Stadium. “It is the Premier League.”
However the 29-year-old is totally conscious of the problem the Championship offers.
“It is 46 robust video games, midweek, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday,” Bowen mentioned.
“There’s going to be disappointment at occasions, there’s going to be quite a lot of stress on us to go and win the league immediately.
“That is our purpose, however I am telling you now, it isn’t going to be as simple as that.”
Supervisor Nuno Espirito Santo agrees.
“Usually when a group drops to the Championship, it’s important to be the favorite, primarily as a result of our goal is to return to the Premier League,” the 52-year-old advised BBC Radio London.
“We realise how onerous it is going to be. We’ll need to be resilient, to maintain going.
“Tight schedule, very robust competitors, quite a lot of good groups with the identical aspirations as ourselves.
“However we’re prepared for the problem.”