Kieron Bowie in clear Serie A transfer vow as ex Hibs star addresses relegation threat months after big move
The Scotland striker swapped Hibs for Serie A in the winter transfer window.
Kieron Bowie has vowed to stay put at Hellas Verona - even if the Italian side suffer relegation just months after his big-money Hibs exit.
The striker banked the Easter Road side a record fee in the winter transfer window when becoming the latest Scotland international to choose Serie A football. Remaining at that level with Verona is in doubt though, after they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Torino on Sunday, despite Bowie’s second goal in their colours since leaving the Premiership and Hibs.
He scored his first Serie A goal last month against Bologna but his team sit in 19th place and are equal on points with bottom side Pisa. They are nine points from safety with six games left to play and rivals in those matches include heavy hitters in Serie A leaders Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and Roma. Relegation could spark talk of whether or not Bowie would want to stick around even after signing a long-term deal, and the former Hibs star has responded emphatically, insisting he’ll be with the team even if they are playing second tier football.
Could Kieron Bowie leave Hellas Verona?
Bowie said: “I signed a four-year deal in January, so I’ll stay here. I’m happy. There are still six games to go, and I’d stay in Serie B. We have to believe in it, we always try to win despite the matches against strong teams. There are six games left and we need to recover nine points, we’ll try to recover them.
“Every week we prepare based on the opponent, we adapt to the different teams. We always try to play to our strengths. It doesn’t make much difference to me whether I play [up top] alone or with [Gift] Orban; the important thing is finding players around me. Unfortunately, we lost; perhaps we deserved a point. Now we’ll react immediately.
“I was delighted to get a goal and get us back to 1-1 each. Unfortunately, they scored again just after half-time. It was a frustrating game for myself. We need to take points from these games and unfortunately, we haven’t done that. It has been a common theme in the last so long. We keep losing games that maybe we shouldn’t be losing. It is a tough game and especially at the foot of the table.”
Boss Paolo Sammarco insisted the focus has to be on a strong finish to the season rather than the looming threat of relegation. The Verona gaffer added: “It's another missed opportunity. Unfortunately, we weren't able to pick up any points this time either. We made some silly mistakes: we could have done better than we had planned. I don't want to talk about the future now; we need to focus on finishing this season on a high."