By Alan Hutton

9th Mar, 2022 | 8:40am

West Ham have made major transfer blunder after Jarrod Bowen update - pundit

Alan Hutton has insisted West Ham made a mistake not recruiting another attacking in January after Jarrod Bowen’s injury scare.

The former Scotland international, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested the Irons needed to “lighten the load” on the 25-year-old.

As confirmed by West Ham on Sunday (6 March), Bowen has not sustained any “significant” damage after suffering a heel injury against Liverpool.

However, the Athletic (7 March) claim the winger could still miss a handful of games, starting with the matches against Sevilla and Aston Villa.

With Bowen a major source of West Ham’s goals since the turn of the year, Hutton insisted the Hammers made a blunder not recruiting attacking reinforcements in January.

Hutton told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “He’s been outstanding this season. I always knew he was a talented player but Moyes has got the best out of him.

“He’s their go-to man, I think. A lot of the good play comes through him and when Antonio’s not firing, he takes a lot of weight on his shoulders.

“This is the thing, you have to be careful. He plays a lot of minutes, he plays that aggressive football, high energy. You’re going to pick up these sort of niggles here and there.

“The question is obviously always out there, why didn’t they go and get somebody in January? Somebody to lighten the load, a number nine or whatever they feel they needed. They didn’t do that.

“Still being in the Europa League is a big ask as well. To go Thursday-Sunday while trying to finish in that top four, they’re still fighting on a few fronts.

“Maybe, if they just brought in a couple of extra people during the window, it might have lightened the load.”

Bowen has scored 12 goals and contributed 11 assists in 39 appearances across all competitions this season.

In other news, ex-Premier League referee claims Craig Dawson should be banned as new footage analysed.