Huge blow: West Ham handed major injury setback that could cost them Europe - opinion

West Ham United star Jarrod Bowen could miss both legs of the Hammers’ Europa League quarter-final against French side Lyon, with the 25-year-old’s injury worse than initially believed.

According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, the Englishman’s injury is ‘worse than first feared’ after fracturing a bone in his foot against Liverpool earlier this month.

West Ham had confirmed that the winger suffered ‘no significant damage’ following the injury on 6 March but it now appears as though Bowen will have to spend more time on the sidelines.

Having scored 12 goals and assisted 11 in 39 appearances this season, the Englishman is certainly up there as a seriously strong contender for West Ham’s player of the year.

This campaign has seen the 25-year-old playmaker develop excellently, building on last season’s tally of eight goals and six assists.

In fact, it was recently revealed to The Athletic by David Moyes that Bowen looked likely to have received his first-ever senior England call-up had he not sustained his injury.

The Scotsman said: “I hope we’ve got England internationals (at West Ham). We’ve got Declan Rice at the moment. With a bit of luck we might have had Jarrod Bowen if it hadn’t been for injury.”

Whilst his record in front of goal is his best in claret and blue to date with two months left of the season, most of those goals have come in 2022.

Since the turn of the year, Bowen’s form has been electric, scoring seven and assisting one in all competitions.

The major concern for Moyes and the West Ham faithful will be how much longer they’re going to be without their best goal output for with vital games fast approaching after the international break.

Michail Antonio hasn’t scored in the Premier League since New Year’s