Teddy Sheringham drops West Ham, Millwall claim that may shock fans

Teddy Sheringham's comparison of Femi Azeez and Jarrod Bowen is likely going to divide opinion...

Teddy Sheringham plied his trade for both Millwall and West Ham in his on-field career, but his comments regarding the clubs two current star players is likely going to divide massive opinion.

An English icon of the 1990s and early 2000s, Sheringham began his professional football career with the Lions in 1983, staying at the club for eight years, where he scored 111 times in 262 games before getting his big breaks for the likes of Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and Man United.

Sheringham went on to represent England 51 times in his illustrious career, which spanned 25 years and saw three Premier League wins and a UEFA Champions League success, but in the latter part of it, he decided to take in a stint at West Ham, whom he supported as a boy despite starting his career at their bitter rivals.

Teddy Sheringham makes audacious comparison between Millwall's Femi Azeez and West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen

Despite his boyhood loyalties to West Ham, it is one particular star of Millwall that has been impressing Sheringham recently, and that is Femi Azeez.

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and with less than a year remaining on his contract at The Den, he may not be there for much longer, despite being withdrawn early from the club's opening fixture of the season against Bristol City with a hamstring injury.

And Sheringham has been that impressed with 25-year-old Azeez to the point that he thinks he may be better than none other than Jarrod Bowen - West Ham's captain, star and an England international to boot.

"Femi Azeez has been a revelation. I can’t believe he’s still at Millwall, to be honest. I love him," Sheringham told MetBonus - via the Reading Chronicle.

“He’s a left-footed right winger that just puts the ball in areas for the centre-forwards to attack where defenders don’t like the ball being delivered, and whether it’s right foot, left foot, he is phenomenal.

“He’s a real talent. Worth turning up to see and pay the ticket price for him alone. He’s always going to do something special. I can’t keep my eyes off him.

“The best feedback you can get as a winger is when your full-back knows exactly what you’re going to do, and you do it anyway.

“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 expected one of the second tier of Premier League clubs to come in for him.

“There’s so many left-footers who play on the right but I compare him to Mohammed Kudus and Femi Azeez is a better player. Jarrod Bowen? He’s better 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 see who is the better player could come when Millwall and West Ham take each other on, with the first installment of the bitter rivalry since February 2012 - which the Hammers won 2-1 - coming at The Den on September 19 before the first international break.

We know almost for certain that Bowen - if he stays fit - will lead his side out for that clash, having committed his future to the east London outfit despite their relegation from the Premier League, but the same may not be able to be said for Azeez.

Millwall have a big transfer dilemma when it comes to Azeez's future in the final week-and-a-half of the transfer window, with Brighton the latest club linked with a move for the recently-capped Nigeria international.

It remains to be seen whether anyone will meet Millwall's asking price for Azeez's services, but the Lions have in recent years become a club that have traded their best assets away and recruited smartly for replacements - the same could happen here.

Femi Azeez better than Jarrod Bowen? Not yet, anyway

Azeez was one of the stars of last season's Championship for Millwall, but to say he's a better player that Jarrod Bowen right now is almost blasphemous.

At 29 years of age, Bowen is in the prime of his career, and despite being part of a West Ham side that ultimately was not good enough to stay in the top flight of English football, it was no slight on him as a player, especially as he found the back of the net nine times.

It was only the second season in five where Bowen hadn't netted double figures in the Premier League, and let's not forget he is a right-winger - he's not supposed to be the main talisman at the London Stadium.

Since coming through the ranks at Hereford United in 2014, Bowen has had a superb rise up the pyramid, and his 22 England caps speak for themselves - Bowen hasn't regressed at all, and Azeez will have to do it at the top level first to be considered a better player.