Steve Bruce now says Newcastle tried to sign 'wonderful' £60m England star when he was at Newcastle

If Steve Bruce is to be believed, the squad Newcastle United could have had under him would have won us the Premier League.

Ever since Steve Bruce's departure from Newcastle, he has made a lot of appearances on podcasts and TalkSPORT talking about his time at the club and how everything was against him and wah wah wah.

Never one for the truth, or admitting his own mistakes, Bruce has painted the perfect picture of being the victim at St James' Park when a simple glance from the outside looking in could show you he was the problem. Not the entire problem, obviously, but he was a big contributing factor.

One thing Bruce loves talking about is how he spotted all these amazing players before they got big and how they almost signed for Newcastle.

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Steve Bruce has been playing fantasy football again

Jarrod Bowen got as far as Wetherby Services before deciding to join West Ham. Moises Caicedo was Newcastle-bound before heading to Brighton too according to Brucey and now he's added a couple more names to the list which would really have transformed Newcastle into contenders.

Speaking on TalkSPORT this morning (h/t Geordie Boot Boys), Bruce spoke about how Newcastle tried to sign both Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise before they joined Crystal Palace.

“We were really interested in him (Eze) and the other kid, Olise.

“We tried to chase the two of them, you know. They were never going to leave London, though, you know, and Newcastle wasn’t the Newcastle they are today, of course.

“Two really exceptional footballers, Eze, in particular. He has got this natural ability which just comes when you watch him, he has got that ability to go past people which seems to be a bit of a dying art at the moment. He has got that in abundance. Really looks a wonderful footballer at the moment.”

It would have been a cracking midfield to be fair

So, we almost had a midfield of Bowen. Eze, Olise and Caicedo. Canny that like.

Whether there is any truth to these Steve Bruce tales or not is frankly irrelevant, spouting off about them now does him absolutely no good, it just smacks of desperation, of a man so desperate to stay relevant that he has to point out how good he was at spotting talent.

He may well have been, but clearly he wasn't great at getting said talent to play under him.

Newcastle have now been linked with moves for Eze and Olise this summer with both being valued at around £60million each, but there's plenty of interest in both players and Newcastle may struggle to push their way to the front of the queue.