Hammers finally get their Bow BreakingNews.ie_1456

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Hammers finally get their Bow You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
The signature of Lee Bowyer for West Ham will complete a deal which should have been sealed several years ago, according to the club’s Academy director Tony Carr.
Bowyer was brought up in the heart of West Ham territory, Poplar, but went to Charlton as a youngster and they reaped the rewards when they sold him to Leeds more than six years ago for ￡2.7m (�4.16m) -- then a British record for a teenager.
But with only the finer points of his Hammers contract to be ironed out – the midfielder returned to Leeds today after a medical to finalise personal details - Carr is looking forward to seeing Bowyer in a claret and blue shirt at last.
“You do know about these youngsters as schoolboys. It was touch and go whether he would go to West Ham or Charlton and for whatever reason he chose them,” said Carr, who rubbished claims West Ham rejected Bowyer as a youngster.
“Who is to say that it was the wrong choice? He did ever so well, broke into the team early,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, and progressed rapidly into a fiery young player.”
Bowyer played for the same Sunday league team as current West Ham striker Jermain Defoe and Carr added: “We can’t win them all; Jermain chose West Ham instead of Charlton and it is swings and roundabouts, I suppose.”
The Academy chief relishes the prospect of seeing Bowyer – whose cousin Ian Tucker is on the Upton Park books – playing for the club he supported as a boy.
And it is those ties which have propelled him back in the direction of London,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, despite a bid by Sunderland boss Howard Wilkinson to re-sign the player he initially took to Elland Road.
According to Sunderland’s website, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, the club last week agreed a deal with Leeds but after “positive and lengthy” talks between Wilkinson and the player, Bowyer said that if he was going to leave Leeds on a short-term contract, West Ham was his only option.
“Let’s hope it happens; he would be a great asset to us, I think, as a good goal scoring midfield player, and it can only benefit the squad,” Carr told the club’s official website, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.
“Any new face,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, especially one of his quality, will give the place a lift.”
West Ham have agreed a fee of about ￡300,000 (�462,000) with Leeds and it is expected that a deal,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, including a possible lucrative bonus for avoiding relegation, should be concluded either tomorrow or Thursday.
Either way, barring any last-minute hitch,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, that should be in time for Bowyer to make his West Ham debut against Newcastle on Saturday if he has recovered from a recent Achilles problem.
The addition of Bowyer has been welcomed by Hammers fans, who are prepared to put the midfielder’s off-the-field problems to one side.
Bowyer’s previous brushes with controversy include testing positive for cannabis while still at Charlton, being found guilty of affray and fined ￡4,500 (�6,930) by magistrates after a McDonald’s restaurant was trashed in 1996 and the high-profile trial when he was cleared of affray and grievous bodily harm to student Sarfraz Najeib in Leeds city centre.
But Emily Constant, a member of the West Ham Supporters’ Trust, said that despite all the history, Bowyer could be the man to save their season.
“If he can keep the club up then he will have done his job – and that is the bottom line for all fans,” she said.
“Obviously, there have been problems off the pitch but our priority is that West Ham stay in the Premiership and he is a good player at the prime of his career.”
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