Steve Bruce has admitted that he came agonizingly close to signing Jarrod Bowen for Newcastle United.
The former Toon boss has been speaking on the Die For Three Points podcast alongside hosts Neil Warnock and David Prutton, and was asked about any signings that got away from him during his managerial career.
The first deal he turned to was one he missed out on at Newcastle, when he wanted to bring Bowen to St James’ Park.
He was heavily linked with a move to Tyneside in the summer of 2019 and the January of 2020 – the first two windows after Bruce replaced Rafa Benitez.
At the time, Bowen was playing for Hull in the Championship, but looked like a forward with a huge amount of potential. That is why Newcastle wanted him, and it is why the Tigers wanted around £20million for him.
Bowen looked like a good fit for the Magpies, but he would instead sign for West Ham at the beginning of 2020.
Alan Shearer spoke about the failed move for Bowen last year, and now Bruce has explained just how close he was to adding him to his Toon squad.
Bruce nearly brought Bowen to Newcastle
On the Die For Three Points podcast, Warnock asked Bruce about any players he had missed out on in the transfer window, before turning to his own misfortune at failing to sign Didier Drogba back when he was in the second tier of French football.
“The big one at Newcastle in the last couple of years was Jarrod Bowen, who we had signed from Hereford,” Bruce said.
“We took him to Hull for £50,000 and watched him come through. A great kid.
“I had him. I had him parked in the service station on the M1, waiting for permission to see if we could do it, to see if I could scramble the money, but couldn’t get the money together. He went to West Ham instead.”
Bruce failed by the ownership
While Bruce was not popular on Tyneside, this transfer mishap was nothing to do with him. It was all about the previous regime failing to inject enough cash. Mike Ashley had no ambition for Newcastle United, which resulted in no money being made available to sign Bowen.
That was a huge error, especially given what he has gone on to achieve at West Ham. He scored 18 goals in all competitions last season, and has also won four England caps.
The attacker was also on the end of a dangerous tackle from Dan Burn that sparked a brawl, but the pair made up after the game.
Newcastle missed out on a fantastic player for £20million. It was a huge opportunity missed, as he even could have been sold on for a huge profit had Ashley wanted to go down that route.
Bruce knew about him and had him ready to join, but the previous owners wouldn’t do the deal. It was a gutting blow for Bruce, and it became more and more painful with each goal he scored for West Ham.
Thank goodness we now have owners with a little bit of ambition…
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