West Brom have ruled themselves out of the running for rival hotshot Jarrod Bowen after a bid from their title rivals for him, according to Alan Nixon of The Sun.

What's the word?

It's believed that the Baggies' nearest challengers, Leeds United, have put in an intriguing offer to secure the services of the Hull City forward this month with them offering a £3m loan fee upfront and £15m should they gain promotion.

The Tigers are believed to be wanting around £20m for their talisman, but with no team willing to pay that, this deal could be seriously considered as it nearly matches their asking price.

As a result, it has seemingly resulted in West Brom pulling out of the race to clinch Bowen, having been linked with him back in December.

Nixon spoke on Twitter about their interest in matching such a deal:

Massive mistake

It remains to be seen if Leeds' bid will get accepted, but as Nixon claims in his article, Hull are prepared to consider it given the lack of teams wanting to stump up that golden £20m price tag.

West Brom would be making a major blunder if they don't follow suit with a similar bid of their own as the deal is quite a cheap one on reflection - only £3m to pay now and then £15m if promoted is mere peanuts in comparison to the masses of riches they'll earn should they indeed go up.

Midlands rivals Aston Villa landed around £170m with their playoff triumph last season, so landing a player that has already bagged 17 goals this season and a total of 52 in 115 Championship appearances, per Transfermarkt, would be a big coup.

As previously stated before, Bowen would be an instant upgrade to the Baggies' attack as no player has matched anywhere near his numbers this term whilst at right-wing he ranks above Matt Phillips in most facets of the wide game.

You only have to look at how the Matheus Pereira deal has been doctored to know that a similar type of move could crucially play dividends and be the difference between promotion and having to fight in the playoffs.

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Losing out to Leeds would also be a devastating blow in their quest to win the league title as it would hand Marcelo Bielsa a weapon that Slaven Bilic simply just does not have at his disposal - only one point separates the two teams going into this weekend.

Clinching Bowen could be the difference for either side.

While in other news, here's how the Baggies could look with investment in three signings after the transfer window slams shut...