Teddy Sheringham played for Millwall and West Ham throughout his time, but his views about the clubs’ two current star players are certain to divide opinion.

Sheringham, an English football icon from the 1990s and early 2000s, began his professional career with the Lions in 1983 and stayed there for eight years, scoring 111 goals in 262 appearances before moving on to Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, and Manchester United.

Sheringham went on to represent England 51 times in his illustrious career, which spanned 25 years and included three Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League victory, but in the latter part of it, he decided to spend time at West Ham, whom he supported as a child despite beginning his career at their bitter rivals.

Teddy Sheringham makes the daring connection between Millwall’s Femi Azeez and West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen.

Despite his boyhood allegiances to West Ham, Sheringham has recently been impressed with one Millwall player in particular, Femi Azeez.

The right-winger scored 11 Championship goals for the Lions last season while also providing seven assists as they fell just short of the play-offs at the semi-final stage, and with less than a year left on his contract at The Den, he may not be there for much longer, despite being withdrawn early from the club’s opening fixture of the season against Bristol City with a hamstring injury.

Sheringham is so impressed with 25-year-old Azeez that he believes he might outperform Jarrod Bowen, West Ham’s captain and England international.Femi Azeez has been an absolute revelation. I can’t believe he’s still at Millwall. “I love him,” Sheringham told MetBonus, per the Reading Chronicle.

“He’s a left-footed right winger who just passes the ball to the centre-forwards in places where defenders don’t like the ball being delivered, and whether it’s right or left foot, he is fantastic.

“He’s a true talent. It’s worth paying the ticket price just to see him. He’ll always do something spectacular. I can’t take my eyes off him.

“The best feedback you can get as a winger is when the full-back knows what you’re going to do and you still execute it.

“And Femi Azeez — how he’s able to manoeuvre it one way or the other and get the ball delivered along that six-yard line — he’s incredible.”

“I would have anticipated one of the second-tier Premier League clubs to bid for him.

“There are many left-footers who play on the right, but when I compare him to Mohammed Kudus, Femi Azeez is the better player. How about Jarrod Bowen? He is superior than him. “I think he’s quality.”

Femi Azeez and Jarrod Bowen may not be in the same division for much longer.

The acid test to establish who is the superior player could come when Millwall and West Ham face off, with the first meeting between the fierce rivals since February 2012 – which the Hammers won 2-1 – taking place at The Den on September 19 before the first international break.

We know almost for certain that Bowen, if he remains healthy, will lead his side out for that match, having pledged his future to the east London club despite their relegation from the Premier League, but the same cannot be said for Azeez.

Millwall has a major transfer quandary regarding Azeez’s future in the final week and a half of the transfer window, with Brighton the latest team linked with a bid for the recently-capped Nigeria international.

Femi Azeez vs Jarrod Bowen Stats Comparison (2025-26, League Only)

Azeez (championship

Bowen (premier League)

Appearances

37

38

Goals

11 assists, 7 goals, 11 conversions.

12%

11%

Big Chances Missed

9 5

Shots On Target per Game

0.9

0.7

Big Opportunities Created

18

16

Successful Dribbles per Game

1.3

1.4

Statistics given by Sofascore.

It remains to be seen whether anyone will pay Millwall’s asking price for Azeez’s talents, but the Lions have recently been a club that has moved away its top players and recruited wisely for replacements; the same might happen here.

Is Femi Azeez better than Jarrod Bowen? Not yet, anyhow.

Azeez was one of Millwall’s stars in last season’s Championship, but to claim he’s better than Jarrod Bowen right now is almost obscene.

Bowen is 29 years old and in the peak of his career. Despite being part of a West Ham team that was ultimately not good enough to continue in the top tier of English football, it was no reflection on him as a player, especially since he scored nine goals.

It was only the second time in five seasons that Bowen had failed to reach double figures in the Premier League, and let’s not forget that he is a right-winger, not the major talisman at the London Stadium.

Bowen has had a fantastic ascent up the pyramid since rising through the ranks at Hereford United in 2014, and his 22 England caps speak for themselves – Bowen hasn’t regressed at all, and Azeez will have to achieve the same at the top level first to be deemed a better player.