West Ham star Bowen sets three-month target for triumph after England tears

Jarrod Bowen will kickstart his bid to seal a World Cup call-up with England — one he knows would put dad Sam and the rest of their family through the emotional ringer again.

The 22-year-old West Ham star, whose side take on Manchester City in their first game of the campaign, got his first taste of international football at the end of last season when Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate handed him his first cap against Hungary. And so overcome by Bowen's success were the rest of the family that most burst into tears and one in particular could barely get his words out.

"Everyone just started crying," said Bowen. "We were all out for lunch — my girlfriend, my brother, my mate, my sister — at a little cafe called The Flying Dutchman in Leominster.

"My girlfriend knew because I was walking around all in shock and when I told my brother he walked out the restaurant because he was crying. My mum was at work and my dad wouldn't speak to me, because every time he picked the phone up, I said, 'Hello, you all right?', and he said, 'No'. I had to ring him about five times because I could just tell he was in bits.

When I saw him later, we were in his old truck — it's battered, an 05 plate — and he was crying his eyes out saying, 'I can't believe it, this is the truck we used to go to local games in. Look at you now — you've just been called up to England. I can't take my hat off to you enough'.

"I don't know how he'd be if I got to the World Cup, that would be another one again. So I know the next three or four months are really massive in terms of my career — being involved in the summer was obviously great but coming away from it left me wanting more in terms of being in the next squad, not just be in the one squad and then that's it. I want to be in the one in September and then the World Cup, so that's my aim, that's my desire."

While Bowen's family were lost for words by his call-up, his Hammers team-mates certainly weren't. Laughing, he added: "The first couple of them when me and Declan Rice were talking were, like, 'Ooh, watch out, it's the England boys together', but they were all buzzing for me."

Bowen's rise from non-League footballer to international star has been rapid and that comes with added pressure. "I haven't chosen myself in my fantasy league because my price has gone up," he said. "My barber told me I've gone up £2million so that's a big pressure in itself."

But as he and his West Ham pals prepared for their season-opener against Manchester City, he insisted there will be no resting on his laurels. He said: "Being in that squad made me want everything 10 times more. I want my form to be even higher again. The player and person I am, I always set myself targets and am so self-critical, rather than putting praise on myself. That has stood me in good stead. This season is about even more progression."