Journalist reveals baffling reason NUFC turned down Jarrod Bowen - despite him wanting to sign
According to the Chronicle's Mark Douglas, Newcastle will NOT make any late move for Jarrod Bowen - because we 'don't believe he's worth £20m'.
The player is said to want a move to St James' Park - giving us our chance to step in late on - yet the 23-year-old now looks all set to sign for West Ham in the coming hours now he's agreed personal terms.
I'm struggling to get my head around this stance that he was 'too much of a risk' at £20m - and I'm sure I won't be the only NUFC fan who's a little baffled by our approach given today's series of events.
Firstly, Steve Bruce admitted earlier today that the club had a £35m deal (rising to £45m!) agreed for 20-year-old Frenchman, Boubakary Soumare.
He's a top young talent and would've been a huge coup for the club, but when we failed to convince him, had LOTS of money left to spend and were still in dire need of a goal scorer, it seemed pretty naive to pass up on Bowen because '£20m is too much'.
Bowen is yet to test himself at Premier League level, but this is a man who's been regularly described as the second tier's best player after scoring 38 goals in 18 months in a bang average Hull side. And this is a Newcastle team that have lacked the one thing Bowen specialises in - goals.
It's clear we lack goal scorers and we're well stocked in central midfield, yet we pass up on the chance to sign one of the country's most prolific talents for £20m but are happy to pay OVER double that to sign an exciting yet unproven Ligue 1 talent.
Based on the Soumare bid, we were happy to pay HUGE money for a big risk we didn't need to make - yet wouldn't take a slight risk on the sort of goal scorer this team sorely lacks.
There's been a need for more attacking options all season, but Bruce has insisted he'll only sign a player who'd improve us. Bowen would have - and at a very reasonable price too.
I fear we'll look back at this one and see it as a real missed opportunity.
