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West Ham winger Jarrod Bowen has revealed that he came within a whisker of joining Newcastle United in 2020 shortly before he signed for the Hammers instead.
The 26-year-old was a young hot property with Hull City before he earned his big-money move away and Bowen says that it was the Magpies and not current club West Ham that made all the early running for his signature.
Bowen had worked with Steve Bruce during his time with the Tigers and when his ex-boss took the reins with Newcastle, the wide attacker almost followed in his steps before a deal collapsed.
Bowen opens up on failed Newcastle move
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Speaking in the leadup to West Ham’s Europa Conference semi-final first-leg tussle with Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar, Bowen went into detail about his nearly moment with Newcastle, saying:
“So, it was on Deadline Day, and I was just sat there doing nothing. I thought I was going to Newcastle because Steve Bruce was there,” Bowen claimed on the Premier League’s Behind The Game featuring Ian Wright and hip-hop artist Tinie Tempah.
“I was even looking for houses and everything, I thought it was nailed on! Then they turned around and said: ‘We won’t pay the money’. So, I thought: ‘Ok, I’ll stay at Hull then’.
“£14m with £6m in add-ons. One of them was an England call-up and I thought that’d never happen! So, I go to training at Hull all normal, get there and the manager pulls me, saying: ‘What are you doing here?’
“He said: ‘We’ve accepted a bid from West Ham’. I didn’t even know they were interested. I had my three-hour medical in Leeds and then got the train to London.”
🗣 “We can all dream of winning a trophy.” 🏆
Jarrod Bowen believes he owes the fans and the manager a good ending after a difficult season pic.twitter.com/chZTmmgfix
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 10, 2023
Money wasn’t available to sign Bowen says Bruce
Former Newcastle manager Steve Bruce, who tried to bring Bowen to St. James’ Park, had also discussed the failed transfer in a previous interview, saying:
“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.”
Bowen has gone on to score 38 times in 152 appearances for the Hammers and the flanksman enjoyed the best goal return of his career in 2021/22 when he notched 18 times in all competitions.
Bowen could star in Conference League semi-finals
Jarrod Bowen is expected to feature for West Ham on Thursday evening when the Irons host AZ Alkmaar at the London Stadium in the Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg.
The 26-year-old has scored twice in just three starts in the competition so far and both of those efforts were struck in the same game against AEK Larnaca in one of the tournament’s earlier rounds.
West Ham have been priced as favourites to win the Conference League outright ahead of Fiorentina, AZ and Basel.
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