Newcastle United £14m transfer for future England international ‘nailed on’ before West Ham swoop

Former Newcastle manager Steve Bruce attempted to sign the winger from Hull City, where he had been enjoying an impressive season in the Championship. Bowen scored 17 goals in 32 appearances for The Tigers prior to leaving in the January transfer window.

At one stage, Bowen thought he was going to join The Magpies before West Ham swooped in. As was typical of Newcaslte under their previous ownership, they were unable to come up with the funds required to sign the winger.

“So it was deadline day and I had nothing. I thought I was going to Newcastle because Steve Bruce was there,” Bowen told the Premier League’s YouTube channel.

“I was looking for houses and everything, I thought it was nailed on. They said they’re not paying the money, and I thought I would stay at Hull.

“It was £14m with £6m in add-ons and one of those was for an England call-up, and I thought that would never happen. I went to training and thought I was staying at Hull, but the manager pulled me and said ‘what are you doing here, we’ve accepted a bid from West Ham.’ I didn’t even know they were interested.”

Bowen has since established himself in the Premier League with West Ham, scoring 38 goals in 150 appearances as well as earning four England caps - triggering one of the add-on clauses to Hull.

Although Newcastle have progressed significantly since missing out on Bowen, you do wonder how things would have unfolded had they been able to get the player over the line.

And Bruce, who signed Bowen for Hull from Hereford United, was keen to reunite with the promising youngster at the time.

“The big one I missed on at Newcastle was Jarrod Bowen who we’d actually signed at Hull from Hereford United for about £50,000,” Bruce told the Die For Three Points podcast. “I watched him come through, great kid.

“I had him parked in the service station on the M1 waiting to see if we had the permission, to see if I could scramble the funds to make it happen but I couldn’t get the money together and he went to West Ham instead.”