Bruce has been making good use of some of the cash generated from the sale of Henderson by bringing in Craig Gardner, Connor Wickham, Seb Larsson, Ji Dong-won and Kieren Westwood.
But he looks like splashing the cash again for the Republic of Ireland international.
Wes Brown and Darron Gibson are also understood to be targets for Bruce, who has also indicated that he may also dip into the loan market.