Crystal Palace’s attempts to sign Hull City forward Jarrod Bowen have been complicated by West Ham, who now look like they ‘may gazump’ the Eagles in the race for his signature according to The Guardian’s Ed Aarons.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Eagles had reportedly agreed a £16m fee with the Championship side on Thursday for Bowen’s services, while The Guardian believe that ‘positive talks’ were held between the Eagles and the Tigers.
Now, however, Aarons has tweeted that the Hammers ‘may gazump’ the south Londoners in the race to sign the former Hereford attacker, who has scored 16 Championship goals this season while also registering seven assists.
The Guardian have revealed that both London sides are ‘ready’ to pay Bowen around £60k-a-week – it is also mentioned in the article that the Irons deemed the 23-year-old as ‘too expensive’ earlier in the window, but they have now decided to move for him.
Spanner in the works
Aarons, along with Louise Taylor, Jacob Steinburg and Ben Fisher who helped contribute to the report, believe that Crystal Palace felt they were ‘close to landing’ the forward after positive talks were held on Thursday, although West Ham have now ‘complicated’ their pursuit.
Given Bowen’s incredible goalscoring exploits over the last few seasons, it comes as no surprise that other Premier League sides sat up and took notice after finding out that the Eagles had made a significant move.
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The Hull No.20, as aforesaid, has scored 16 Championship goals this term and notched 22 last season, while Opta reveal that no player in England’s second-tier has been involved in more goals than the Englishman since the start of the 2017/18 campaign – in 64 appearances, he has amassed 52 goals and 12 assists.
It remains to be seen what happens, but one thing is for certain – Palace have a job on their hands to land their man.
In other news, Dominic Fifield has delivered an update on Crystal Palace’s hunt for Yannick Carrasco…