STEVE BRUCE is still recommending that Newcastle United do what they can to land Hull City winger Jarrod Bowen in January or next summer.

As revealed in The Northern Echo last summer, the 22-year-old was one of the names Bruce was quick to identify to the Magpies’ recruitment team when he took over from Rafa Benitez.

At that time Newcastle decided to concentrate more of their time and money on deals such as Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximim, having worked on both of those for more than six months.

But the successful acquisitions of both of those two has not altered Bruce’s belief that Bowen would be a fantastic prospect to sign.

Crucially the Newcastle head coach knows the talented wide-man fits the club’s preferred transfer policy in that he is under the age of 28 and has plenty of potential to see his value soar.

Newcastle are keeping tabs on the player’s situation, knowing that he is yet to commit to a new contract at Hull.

Even though the Tigers have an extra year’s option on the deal which is due to expire at the end of this season, they have prepared a new and improved three-year deal for him to sign in the hope of protecting their prize asset.

Just this week Bowen revealed that he is yet to see the details of that, and Hull are known to be still looking for around the £20m mark for any club keen on signing him while he is under contract.

By tabling a new offer with different terms that will also help Hull if it came down to what level of compensation a club would have to pay should he leave as a free agent under the age of 24.

Bruce has kept a close eye on Bowen’s progress in recent years and after scoring 22 times last season he has already hit five this term, as well as creating plenty too.

The Newcastle boss was the man who gave Bowen a chance at the higher level in 2014 when he signed him from Hereford United and would love to give him a crack at the Premier League.

Strengthening the midfield area is a priority in January, with Arsenal’s unsettled Granit Xhaka known to be on the radar, but adding an extra forward option is something Bruce is keen to do too.

Newcastle have been encouraged by the improved displays of Saint-Maximim and Joelinton, as well as Miguel Almiron, in the final third – even though the goals are still in short supply.

Almiron did score his second international goal on Thursday and it was enough for Paraguay to beat Bulgaria in a friendly in Sofia on Thursday.

He drilled a low left-footed shot from 25 yards on the hour mark home before he was replaced by Matías Rojas four minutes later. Almiron’s previous international goal was in a 4-2 win against Jordan in September.

Matty Longstaff, meanwhile, made his first appearance for England under-20s in a 4-0 win over Portugal at the Estadio Municipal de Agueda.