David Moyes has confirmed Jarrod Bowen has signed a new contract at West Ham.

Bowen, recalled to the England squad last week for the matches against Australia and Italy, has committed his future to the club for the long-term.

The 26-year-old winger has scored 45 goals in 166 appearances for the Hammers since joining from Hull for £18million in 2020.

“Jarrod has signed a new deal, which is great news for us here at West Ham,” said Hammers boss Moyes. “He’s done amazing since he’s been here. He continues to improve.

“If you think of his own development as an individual, he started off at Hereford, moved to Hull and now in the Premier League and getting a chance to be in the England squad. I think he’ll get better as well.”

David Moyes saluted his “maverick” forward Lucas Paqueta after the 2-1 Europa League win at Freiburg, even though he drives him mad.

Freiburg’s nickname is the Breisgau Brazilians due to their flamboyant style of play, but it was West Ham’s Samba star Paqueta who stole the show.

He put them ahead after only nine minutes with a towering header from a cross by Jarrod Bowen, celebrating his return to the England squad.

Paqueta then spent the rest of the evening tormenting the hosts with his array of flicks, tricks and occasional theatrics.

“It was a bit of an old-fashioned goal, down the side with a good cross, and then a great header like an old-fashioned centre forward. I really enjoyed watching it,” said Hammers boss Moyes.

“Jarrod played well but Lucas was terrific. He drives me mad sometimes but everybody who watched him would have said this player has got incredible talent.

“There is a word that goes around, a maverick. He is that for us.

“It is really important we get him in and adapt to him and accept some of his things he may not do, things which I would say are conventional.

“But we are really enjoying him at the moment and he is terrific at taking the ball under pressure – but also there are moments when I say: ‘what are you doing’?”

The match may have taken place on the edge of the Black Forest, but it was never going to be a piece of cake for the Hammers against a side eighth in the Bundesliga.

They were also up against 34,000 noisy fans, with no away supporters allowed to attend following incidents during West Ham’s Europa Conference League final triumph in June.

Freiburg equalised after half-time through Roland Sallai, but Nayef Aguerd’s header from a James Ward-Prowse corner made it two wins from two in Group A and a 17th match undefeated in Europe, a record for an English club.

“It’s a brilliant achievement, I’ve said to the boys we need to keep it going. Winning the game tonight was most important,” added Moyes.

“I’m really pleased. We played very well especially, in the opening 20 or 30 minutes.

“They came back, which I expected. They got better and we had moments when we played very well but we mainly won the first half. We had to then be good defensively.”

Goals from Jarrod Bowen and Kurt Zouma saw West Ham continue their fine start to the season as they went top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Luton.

The Hatters, who were hosting a top-flight clash for the first time since April 1992, tried to make a quick start as Ross Barkley dragged a volley wide from just outside the box.

West Ham offered little as an attacking force in the opening exchanges bar a Said Benrahma shot that flew wide, as Barkley had another chance for the hosts after 15 minutes, once more failing to test visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from a decent position.

Bowen had been kept quiet until the 26th minute when he took Nayef Aguerd’s long ball on his chest and fired narrowly wide.

The visitors almost led after 36 minutes when Edson Alvarez fired goalwards, denied by a brave block from Mads Andersen, with Benrahma curling the loose ball wide.

They were in front just 60 seconds later as Lucas Paqueta was given time and space to pick out Bowen, whose close-range header had too much power for Thomas Kaminski.

Luton responded well to the goal as Elijah Adebayo fired a decent opportunity over the top and then Ryan Giles got away on the left, his cross nodded on to the roof of the net by Carlton Morris.

Town ended the half on the front foot with a corner causing trouble inside the area and Tahith Chong nudging the ball behind from a good position.

The Hammers thought they had doubled their lead five minutes after the break when Emerson blasted the ball into the net after some ponderous defending, only for the offside flag to be raised and the goal disallowed following a VAR check.

Buoyed by still being in the game, the Hatters looked to restore parity with Marvelous Nakamba’s inviting ball into the box not being read by Adebayo, who was unable to turn the ball in under pressure from Aguerd at the back post.

Bowen sensed a second just after the hour mark after being left unmarked once more but this time couldn’t beat Kamsinki.

Roared on by a vociferous home crowd, Luton tried their utmost to find a way back into the game and almost did so when the ball dropped to Morris eight yards from goal, but his shot appeared to take a nick off Aguerd and go over.

West Ham then made them pay with four minutes to go as James Ward-Prowse’s corner was met imperiously by Zouma and his downward header flew in.

Luton gave themselves hope in stoppage time with Morris’ header turned in by Andersen but the Hammers held on.

West Ham moved to the top of the Premier League with an impressive 3-1 win at Brighton.

James Ward-Prowse scored his first goal for the club to open the scoring, with Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio wrapping up the points after the break.

Pascal Gross grabbed a late consolation for the Seagulls, who slipped to a first defeat of the season.

David Moyes is considering converting Jarrod Bowen into an out-and-out striker following his latest goal for West Ham.

Bowen had fired the Hammers into the lead early in the second half at Bournemouth with a spectacular curler from the edge of the box.

But Moyes’ side were denied an opening-day win when Dominic Solanke rounded Alphonse Areola to snatch a 1-1 draw with eight minutes remaining.

Bowen’s last kick of last season was the late goal which secured the Europa Conference League trophy against Fiorentina in Prague, 66 days ago.

This time he collected the ball off Tomas Soucek 20 yards out, cut onto his left foot and buried a superb, curling effort beyond the dive of Neto.

“It was a brilliant goal,” said Moyes, who previously successfully turned Marko Arnautovic from winger to striker at West Ham.

“Jarrod is becoming our major goalscorer. There’s a lot of talk about needing to buy a centre-forward but I’m going to see if Jarrod could do the job.

“He’s got the instincts and the sharpness. Hull played him at centre-forward so it’s not me trying to be a genius.”

West Ham were pegged back when Antoine Semenyo’s wayward shot fell at the feet of Solanke, who showed tremendous composure to slip the ball around Areola and tap into an empty net.

“The goal was really scruffy,” added Moyes. “I don’t know if the boy is crossing or shooting, it clipped Tomas Soucek’s heel and was bad fortune for us, but we probably brought it on ourselves.”

Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta put in an eye-catching display in a deep-lying midfield role, showing glimpses of why Manchester City made an approach to sign him.

Moyes, who has already lost Declan Rice this summer, does not want another of his best players to leave but is realistic enough to know he might not be able to stop him.

“There’s a price on everyone’s head somewhere,” he said. “We don’t want Lucas to go, it’s as simple as that. But sometimes it’s difficult to say to these boys you can’t join Manchester City, or Real Madrid, the biggest clubs in the world.

“We’ve had a bit of news on Lucas but we’ve had nothing that’s made us wobble.”

Bournemouth’s new boss Andoni Iraola enjoyed his first taste of Premier League football.

“It’s a good point, we wanted three,” said the Spaniard. “We were better at the end of both halves.

“After tying the game the momentum was with us and we finished better, but it was one point.

“We improved after the first half and second half we were a bit more direct. We have to improve, this was the first game of the season. We have to grow from this starting point.”

Jarrod Bowen knows exactly what winning a trophy would mean to West Ham fans – he only has to ask his partner’s father Danny Dyer.

The Hammers will bid to reach a first European final in 47 years when they take on Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League semi-final.

Former Eastenders hardman Dyer is a huge West Ham supporter and Bowen revealed he has been left in little doubt about the significance of Thursday night’s first leg at the London Stadium.

Bowen, who is expecting twins with Dyer’s daughter Dani, said: “It’s massive.

“I’ve only been here three years but I feel a massive part of this club. I feel like a fan, almost, as well. I know how much it means to the fans and I’m one of them who wants to give them that success.

“The missus’ old man is obviously on me every week. But for everyone, the whole club, it’s not been a great season but staying in the Premier League is the main aim and bringing the trophy home for the fans would be a good end to a bad season.”

Europe has been the one bright spot in a tough season for West Ham, although they took a huge step towards securing their Premier League safety with a 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday.

“That result was obviously massive for this club so going into tomorrow night it’s given us a lot of confidence,” added winger Bowen.

“We can use it as a kind of springboard to help us. We know it’s going to be a difficult game.

“They’re a really good side and it’s a European semi-final. We’re at home first so we can use that to our advantage with our fans and the atmosphere I know they’re going to create.”

Last season, West Ham were on their last legs when they reached the Europa League semi-finals, losing over two legs to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.

This term, manager David Moyes feels they may just be peaking at the right time.

“I remember Sir Alex Ferguson always used to talk about that this was the time of year where you had to be at your best,” said the former Manchester United and Everton boss.

“It tends to be now that games are really important; semi-finals, finals, league games you have to win. Having your best form at this time of the season is always important.

“I do believe that we’re playing some of our best stuff just now. I think we can still get much better and I’m hoping we’re going to show that in the coming games.”