Steve Bruce has said that he 'scrambled' to sign West Ham midfielder Jarrod Bowen while manager of Newcastle United after seeing the 26-year-old's performances at Hull City.
Bowen has enjoyed a great three-year stint with the Hammers so far, scoring 32 goals and providing 24 assists in 129 matches in all competitions, but could've landed at St James' Park had Bruce managed to gather the funds.
The 62-year-old had actually already signed Bowen in his previous job at Hull in 2014 from Hereford United, where Bowen first truly made a name for himself netting 54 times in 131 matches for the Tigers.
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But Bruce has since labelled that missed opportunity one of his biggest regrets in football management as he let the winger go to a Premier League rival for a reported fee of £18 million.
"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."
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