West Bromwich Albion's chances of clinching Jarrod Bowen in January may have just taken a crushing blow, at least in the eyes of The Sun journalist Alan Nixon.

What's he said?

The Baggies are currently flying high at the top of the Championship, holding a 12-point gap to those outside of the automatic playoff positions.

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Slaven Bilic has steered his side to a massive 49 points from 22 matches, losing just once and becoming the league's highest scorers by quite some margin with 45 goals to their name.

But the club have been linked to several additions next month, including the Hull City talisman.

The Athletic ruled Leeds United out of the running as they reported that they were after a fee of £20m, and it appears the same could be likely for West Brom too.

When asked on Twitter about the possibility of Albion clinching him, Nixon said:

Over an hour later, he was then asked about Newcastle United's chances, to which he added:

Big blow

This comes as a potentially devastating piece of news as the presence of a player that has scored 16 goals and assisted three in the Championship this season would undoubtedly prepare West Brom for life in the top-flight.

Bowen can play on the right-hand side of midfield or as a number ten, so he would offer valuable depth with Matty Phillips and Matheus Pereira being the Baggies' key protagonists.

Albion were ruled out of sealing a return for Dwight Gayle in the summer due to his high wage demands, thus, splashing out a total of £20m in January has always seemed a little far-fetched.

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They simply can't break the bank for him in case their promotion push takes a turn for the worst, even if that seems rather unlikely at the minute.

Peterborough's Marcus Maddison would offer a cheaper alternative as outlined by us just a few days ago.

And in other Baggies news, Slaven Bilic faces one huge team selection dilemma this weekend...