Jarrod Bowen has revealed that he has been studying Erling Haaland since being moved to the centre-forward position for West Ham this season.
Bowen, who has scored 14 Premier League goals this season is only four behind Haaland, who is leading the goalscoring charts with 18.
The standards that the Norwegian megastar has set are so high that Chris Sutton recently claimed that he has “lost it” this season after his performance in Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool.
Jarrod Bowen says he has been closely studying Erling Haaland this season
Of course, unlike the former Celtic goalscorer, not every pundit has written the 23-year-old off, with Clinton Morrison recently claiming that he laughs every time his brilliance is questioned.
Ronaldo Nazario, who is widely considered as one of the best players of all time and perhaps the greatest striker to have ever lived also praised the treble-winner, claiming that every club would love to sign him.
As opinions float around about Erling Haaland day in and day out, one of the Premier League’s standout forwards this season, Jarrod Bowen has admitted that he has been studying his game.
“I’ve been watching some of the top strikers in the Premier League like [Erling] Haaland, Ollie Watkins, things that they do”, he told Sky Sports in an interview.
“I’m watching games that I’ve played on my own, just 10-minute videos at home and seeing what I can do to improve playing upfront because that’s where I’m playing, I’ve got to be the best I can playing up there.”
Jarrod Bowen was quizzed about what he has learned about playing up top when watching the likes of Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins.
“Just different things, whether it be off the ball, on the ball, the runs, work against centre-halves. I think Haaland’s a difficult one because he’s probably the best goalscorer we’ve seen for a very, very long time.”
“But there’s different things you can learn when your team has the ball and obviously, every team has a different kind of structure in the way they play. But as a centre-forward, you see what they do and you see where their goals come from. When the ball’s in wide areas, where to go in the box, give yourself a yard against defenders, little things like that probably I’ve been looking at the most.”
Erling Haaland is inspiring senior players
In theory, a 23-year-old like Erling Haaland should be inspired by a 26-year-old striker like Jarrod Bowen.
But the reality is that it seems to be the other way around, with Bowen going as far as to claim that even studying Haaland is a challenge due to how uniquely prolific he is.
But that goes to show how much the City number nine has achieved at such a young age that top players in the Premier League like the England international are tuning in to watch him to better their performances.