Newcastle and West Brom surely kicking themselves over Andre Schurrle’s form

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Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion both wanted to sign Andre Schurrle during the January transfer window.

Since the January transfer window came to an end, West Brom’s survival hopes have suffered another blow with a defeat against Southampton while Newcastle United go into their game with Manchester United on Sunday only outside of the bottom three in the Premier League on goal difference.

There is, of course, a long way to go before their season obituaries need to be penned, but Alan Pardew and Rafa Benitez’s frustrations will not have been helped with the January transfer window now a thing of the past.

The Baggies and Magpies may ultimately be content with the business that they did, but the form of one of their mutual targets may be leaving both clubs somewhat kicking themselves for not acting sooner in the hope that his club’s stance may have been different.

ESPN reported that both West Brom and Newcastle wanted to sign Borussia Dortmund forward Andre Schurrle – who the Bundesliga giants were ready to lose, though they wanted a permanent sale while the Premier League pair were looking at an initial loan with an option to buy.

Of course, a move would not take place. While it is not clear what led to the former Chelsea ace staying at the Westfalenstadion, the fact that he has come in from the cold since Andriy Yarmolenko sustained an injury certainly suggests that any move the English pair would have made in the final days of the month would have been unsuccessful.

And since he has returned to the fold, he has shown that he may be able to salvage his Dortmund career with two brilliant performances that may leave Pardew and Benitez wondering what could have been had circumstances been different.

The winger scored an 84th minute winner against Cologne in their first game after the window and provided an assist in the 2-0 win over Hamburg on Saturday to bag the plaudits once again.

While it is highly possible that Dortmund never had any intention of letting Schurrle leave on loan – and thus, West Brom and Newcastle were never really in the running – both Pardew and Benitez may be forgiven for kicking themselves as they may feel that had they acted sooner, perhaps Dortmund may have been much more willing to consider other offers, and that may have enabled the Baggies or Magpies to potentially be the beneficiaries of his current upturn.