Darren Bent claims Arsenal have a bench player who’s even better than Jarrod Bowen

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Darren Bent believes a squad player at Arsenal is better than West Ham United’s talisman, Jarrod Bowen.

Andrea Berta invested £250 million into the Gunners’ squad over the summer, building an exceptional assortment of players for Mikel Arteta to pick from.

The Spanish manager now has an array of high-quality options in every single position, and this should allow his side to compete on multiple fronts.

So far, this approach of stocking up with talented players is paying dividends, as Arsenal sit top of the Premier League table after seven matches.

• READ MORE: Confirmed Arsenal summer 2025 transfer ins and outs, signings and done deals

Darren Bent says Noni Madueke is better than Jarrod Bowen

Arsenal signed Noni Madueke for £55 million in the summer, to many fans’ dismay.

A large section of the Gunners’ supporter base was concerned that this was too significant an investment for a deputy to Bukayo Saka.

However, Madueke shone for Arsenal in his first few matches in red and white before suffering a knee injury in September.

The winger had also been in impressive form for England, where he is also competing for a place with Saka.

That said, the Gunners’ talisman’s spot in the Three Lions’ squad is likely guaranteed, so Madueke will essentially be competing with Bowen to deputise for Saka at the World Cup.

Selecting his squad for the tournament on talkSPORT, former Tottenham striker Darren Bent picked the former Chelsea star over the West Ham man, which sparked a heated debate with presenter Andy Goldstein.

“Why no Bowen?” Goldstein asked.

“Simply for the fact I’ve seen Saka and Madueke have really good games for England. Bowen, I’m yet to see. I know he’s good for West Ham,” Bent replied.

“Do you think Madueke is better than Bowen?” Goldstein posed.

“He’s been better for England.”

“I’ll ask the question again. Do you think Madueke is better than Bowen overall?”

“Yeah.”

“I think you’ve lost the plot. And then I think let’s just analyse what you’ve just said there. There ain’t no way Madueke is better than Jarrod Bowen,” Goldstein said.

Noni Madueke and Jarrod Bowen’s statistics compared

On the surface, Bowen’s numbers were better than Madueke’s last season.

The 28-year-old scored six more Premier League goals than his 23-year-old counterpart, while creating five more goals for his teammates.

That said, some of the underlying numbers indicate that Madueke has been underperforming with his output, and that he could easily explode in the future.

The Arsenal wide forward takes more shots, completes more dribbles and more carries than Bowen, whose primary skillset has been on finding himself in dangerous positions to score, rather than contributing to general play.

Ultimately, it’s a question of whether you value raw output or all-around contribution when determining which of the two players is better.