Mike Ashley agrees to launch bid for Bruce’s top January target after transfer talks – Report

According to The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards, Newcastle United are set to make a firm bid for Hull City star Jarrod Bowen.

Edwards’ ‘exclusive’ claims Steve Bruce has received transfer assurances from Mike Ashley after the pair held transfer talks on Tyneside this week, and states the NUFC owner will “back his judgement in the transfer market” with a bid for Bowen.

The Hull City star has been regularly described as Steve Bruce’s top target heading into the January window.

Bruce not only worked with him during his time with the Tigers, but has seen him blossom into one of the Championship’s top players in recent seasons.

Bowen bagged 22 goals in a struggling Hull side last season and has weighed in with an impressive 16 goals and 6 assists from out wide already this season.

Here’s a snippet from Luke Edwards’ big ‘exclusive’ for The Telegraph in the last few moments:

Newcastle United are set to make a firm bid for Hull City forward Jarrod Bowen after Steve Bruce was assured by owner Mike Ashley that he will back his judgement in the transfer market at a meeting this week.

Bowen has been a long-term target of Bruce, who enquired about signing the 23-year-old last summer but was initially put off by an asking price of more than £20m.

He is the sort of dynamic player Bruce feels Newcastle need and adds a potent goal threat from a wide position which has the potential to enhance the team’s offensive threat.

Despite backing out of a transfer in the summer, Newcastle have scouted Bowen regularly ever since and will now tempt Hull with a bid to see if they really do want to keep hold on to their prize asset until the summer.

Whether they are willing to go as high as the £22m that has been widely quoted as the asking price this month remains to be seen but their interest is genuine and Bruce admitted at his press conference on Friday morning that he hopes to make at least “one or two” signings before the end of the month.

Privately, the club have been given encouragement Hull will sell Bowen and will test that information out with a bid, despite also being linked with RB Leipzig’s Ademola Lookman and, more recently Inter Milan winger Valentino Lazaro. 

However, they were also led to believe Leipzig would allow Lookman to leave on loan this month only to then be told by the German club that was not the case.

Interestingly, Hull signed Mallik Wilks from Barnsley on loan on Friday with the option to make the move permanent in the summer. Wilks is a forward who can play both as a winger or a central striker.

He is manager Grant McCann’s third signing of the month, which shows he is trying to reshape the team and hints he is expecting Bowen to leave, despite regularly denying he is for sale.

With us in dire need of more fire power and goal scorers up top, this could be a brilliant move from the club – but it remains to be seen if we’ll offer anything close to Hull’s alleged £22m asking price.

One to watch in the 14 days that remains of the transfer window!

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

One thought on “Mike Ashley agrees to launch bid for Bruce’s top January target after transfer talks – Report

  1. Even if I were daft enough to believe this were true and Ashley would spend (which I don’t).
    I then have to remind myself that it would be Charnley negotiating any deal – ?

      (Quote)

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