Hibs forward Kieron Bowie seals Hellas Verona move in club record fee

Kieron Bowie hopes his transfer from Hibernian to Hellas Verona can help him secure a place in Scotland’s World Cup squad.

The 23-year-old striker flew to Italy on Friday morning before undergoing a medical and signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Serie A club, which was confirmed later in the day.

Bowie, who moved to Easter Road from Fulham for £600,000 in 2024, becomes Hibs’ record sale, with the reported fee of £6million eclipsing the £4.4m they received from Celtic for Scott Brown 19 years ago.

The Edinburgh club are understood to have secured a sell-on clause.

Bowie follows fellow Scotland internationals Scott McTominay, Josh Doig, Che Adams and Lewis Ferguson in moving to Italy.

Speaking to Sky Sports at Edinburgh Airport on Friday, Bowie said: “I’ve had 18 months at Hibs now and I’ve done extremely well there and they’ve done well for me, so I think for all parties it’s good.

“Obviously, Italy appeals. There’s a lot of people from Scotland that have gone there and done well.

“This obviously opens up a lot of opportunities for myself and my family and stuff like that so that’s the main thing.

“It’s a top league and everyone wants to do as best they can and obviously with a World Cup coming up, I’ve spoke about that a lot over the last couple of months and that’s the idea.”

Bowie’s first campaign at Hibs was hindered by injury problems but after making his Scotland debut last June, he started this season strongly. He leaves the Edinburgh club with 15 goals to his name in 52 appearances.

Falkirk boss John McGlynn, who gave Bowie his break in professional football as a teenager when he signed him for Raith Rovers, said of his move to Serie A: “It’s amazing actually. I’m delighted for him.

“We brought him in very young. We started putting him in our reserve team at Raith and you could see him developing, so we trained him with our first team.

“You could tell that Kieron was going to be a player so we managed to stick him into our first team when he was 16 and he gradually just got himself in the team and continuously developed. He just got better and better.

“I knew he was going to do well. Did I know he was going to be sold for £6m? No. But from nowhere to where he is now is phenomenal. He went down to Fulham and went on loan to Northampton, so he’s done the apprenticeship and he’s done well for Hibs.

“It’s good business for Hibs, £600,000 to £6m in not a lot of time. And Raith Rovers got another 100 grand (through a sell-on clause) when he went to Hibs, and they’re going to get another 100 grand now, so I’ve done alright for them!”