It is January 2020 and Marcelo Bielsa is looking to guide Leeds United towards automatic promotion from the Championship. Recruitment is needed and Leeds have targeted Hull’s Jarrod Bowen.
That month, Leeds would only sign Ian Poveda on a free transfer from Man City and Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan from Leipzig. A deal that has since gone down as one of the worst deals in the club’s history.
Poveda didn’t fare much better, with the Colombian currently on the sidelines at Sunderland. Bielsa was looking for more fire power at Elland Road despite landing Helder Costa at the start of the summer.
Another was targeted, in the form of Jarrod Bowen. The now-West Ham skipper was in fine form for Hull that season, having a hand in 22 goals in 29 Championship games. Leeds tried to sign Bowen.
West Ham star Jarrod Bowen came close to joining Leeds United
According to reports from The Sun at the time, Leeds tabled a loan offer. An initial £3m, rising to £15m if Leeds got themselves promoted which of course they would do, as title winners, under Leeds icon Bielsa.
A couple of the days after the reports, West Ham completed a £22m deal to sign Bowen and the rest is history. Bowen has gone on to have 129 goals and assists in 242 West Ham games, and 19 England caps.
The former Hull and Hereford man scored the winner to win the Europa Conference League final under David Moyes, and now even has the West Ham captaincy following the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal.
What Phil Hay said about Leeds’ move to sign Jarrod Bowen
Come Friday night, Leeds will have the difficult task of stopping Bowen, who already has three goals this season in the Premier League. He would have been an incredible signing, especially under Bielsa.
Speaking in 2022 on The Phil Hay Show, Hay reported that Leeds would have had to do a deal similar to the one they secured for Augustin if they were to sign him, and that interest in Bowen was genuine.
He said: “They looked at Jarrod Bowen, who was at Hull as well. I think that would’ve had to have been essentially the same [type of] deal [as Augustin] if they had been able to do anything with him.
“They would’ve taken him [on loan] but agreed to an obligation to take him permanently because Hull wanted the commitment to that fee being paid, and as time ticked on, they settled on Augustin.”
Bowen has started on the right flank under Nuno and that means it will be Gabriel Gudmundsson’s job to deal with the England international on Friday night. Bowen is in action against Brentford tonight.
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