Jarrod Bowen’s Unique Double: The Only Man to Combine 20+ Dribbles and 20+ Key Passes This Season
In a league bursting with attacking flair and creative talent, Jarrod Bowen has quietly carved out a startling niche for himself in the 2024/25 campaign. What makes his season truly exceptional is that — as far as the data shows — he is the only Premier League player to have completed more than 20 successful dribbles and delivered more than 20 key passes this season.
Why That Feat Matters
To understand how unusual Bowen’s stat line is, we need to break down what those metrics reflect:
- Successful dribbles measure a player’s ability to beat a defender one-on-one and retain possession past the obstacle.
- Key passes represent passes that lead to shots — not just safe possession moves, but creative passes that directly generate scoring chances.
One is about individual attacking threat and daring; the other is about vision, timing, and teamwork. Few players in the Premier League manage to combine both traits to any serious degree — most dribbleers are isolation attackers with less emphasis on chance creation, while many creators don’t consistently take defenders on.
Bowen, though, has melded both sides of the coin. He carries the ball, dribbles successfully, breaks lines — and then also picks out teammates, launches chances, and threads passes. His dual threat forces defenders into difficult dilemmas: close him down and risk him slipping past you, sit off him and allow space for him to pick out passes.
Thus, Bowen becomes not only a scoring threat — but a creator and breaker of lines in equal measure. That kind of versatility is rare.
Numbers & Context
Over the 2024/25 season, Bowen’s overall contributions were already impressive:
- He scored 13 Premier League goals and added 8 assists in 34 appearances. (FootyStats)
- He also managed 48 key passes, giving him a rate of ~1.45 key passes per match. (gscl.ng)
- In the dribbling department, he completed 37 successful dribbles in that season, putting him among the top dribblers in the league. (FootyStats)
The fact that no other player in the Premier League is recorded having hit both the 20+ dribbles and 20+ key passes thresholds underscores how rare Bowen’s blend is.
Implications for West Ham & Opposition
For West Ham, Bowen is effectively a two‑in‑one weapon. He isn’t just reliant on through balls or crosses — he creates chances with his feet, breaks lines, draws defenders, and then can also pick out teammates. That unpredictability makes him harder to game-plan against.
Opponents can’t simply crowd the box or drop deep without fear, because Bowen will deliver passes into dangerous pockets. Equally, they can’t give him 1-vs‑1 space down the flank — because he will often win those duels.
In a weaker team especially, having a player who can generate his own chances and facilitate others is invaluable.
Limitations & Caveats
- The stat comes from sources like Apex Football / OneFootball, and it depends on how they collect “successful dribbles” and “key passes.” It’s possible that some players are very close but did not cross both thresholds.
- Also, being unique in one season doesn’t guarantee long-term dominance — one or two seasons of those traits might be anomalies or due to system, teammates, or role.
Still, in the context of this season alone, Bowen’s combination of traits stands apart in the Premier League.
Final Thought
In a league where superstars often dominate goalscoring or creative charts, Bowen has quietly asserted himself not as a specialist but as a hybrid: part penetrator, part architect. That makes him uniquely dangerous — and this season, at least, no other Premier League player has matched his dual 20+ dribbles + 20+ key passes achievement.
If you like, I can compare him to past seasons or similar players — want me to check that?
