Sheffield Wednesday hit the jackpot after Newcastle United transfer decision | OneFootball

Jacob Murphy had a brief spell at Sheffield Wednesday before establishing himself as a mainstay at Newcastle United

Jacob Murphy will likely go down as one of the unsung heroes in the early years of the current Newcastle United era, but he didn't have it all plain sailing en route to establishing himself in the Magpies' side.

Years before the wideman was hailed by Liverpool manager Arne Slot as one of the main reasons why Alexander Isak was so prolific during his time at St James' Park, he was struggling to get into the Newcastle side under Rafa Benitez.

After signing for £12 million from Norwich City in 2017, Murphy would be on the fringes of action during his first season, before then making just nine Premier League appearances during the 2018/19 campaign, resulting in him being loaned out to Championship side West Brom for the remainder of the year.

Despite positive performances at the Hawthorns for a side that wound up finishing in the play-offs, and Benitez departing that summer, Murphy still wasn't in the plans at Newcastle under new manager Steve Bruce, and was sent out on loan once more.

Sheffield Wednesday were the side who profited, and the strong 2019/20 campaign at Hillsborough gave him the base to go on and become one of the more underrated Premier League stars in the coming years.

Jacob Murphy rediscovered his form on loan at Sheffield Wednesday

Before arriving at St James' Park, Murphy was regarded as one of the brighter young talents in the EFL, tearing up League One with Coventry City and then the Championship with Norwich in back-to-back campaigns between 2015 and 2017.

In the latter year with the Canaries, he netted eight and assisted eight, too, and it was clear that he'd be ready to make the jump to the Premier League.

However, two years on, Murphy needed to rediscover that form, and he found it on loan at Sheffield Wednesday.

The then-24-year-old introduced himself to the Hillsborough fans in the best way possible, scoring on his debut in a South Yorkshire derby win against Barnsley, but throughout the opening half of the campaign, he struggled to get to grips with his new side.

He popped up with goal contributions here and there, but he went into the new year with just two goals and one assist, and had been left on the bench for a couple of impressive to-nil wins against Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, which saw Wednesday third at the halfway point of the season.

Wednesday would fall off a cliff in the second half of the campaign, winning just four of the final 23 games, and finishing just eight points above the bottom three in 16th, but there was one positive in Gary Monk's side, and that was Murphy's resurgence.

The wideman would net three goals in the coming months, including one in a big 2-0 win at Leeds United in January. When the season was paused after COVID-19 hit, Murphy was sitting at a respectable five league goals, but after the season resumed in June, he found another level.

Wednesday won twice in the final nine games of the campaign, but Murphy did his fair share to try and change that. He scored four in his final five games for the club, and added four more assists during the empty-stadium action.

At the end of the campaign, Murphy registered nine goals and six assists in a campaign where he made just 24 starts, which was a great return, and put him back in Steve Bruce's eyeline for Premier League games in the following campaign.

Jacob Murphy may not have blossomed into a Champions League-level player without Sheffield Wednesday loan spell

That stint at Hillsborough helped Murphy back into the Newcastle fold, where he was a useful squad player for the most part until the 2024/25 campaign, where he registered eight goals and 12 assists to help the Magpies to a spot in the Champions League, alongside playing a key part in their EFL Cup win.

There's no doubt that the wideman is a useful option at St James' Park, but after a second straight Championship loan deal was sanctioned just 40 games into his Newcastle career, it looked as if his time with the Magpies was all but over.

Sheffield Wednesday helped Murphy on his way to getting to levels where he'd be lining out in the Champions League for his parent club, but the winger's contributions at Hillsborough were important too — it was a win-win loan deal.

At the start of the season, he was a useful squad option in a promotion-challenging side, and then, when things went bad, he chipped in with some important goal contributions to help stop Wednesday from falling into a relegation battle.

The Owls certainly hit the jackpot with this loan move, and both Newcastle and Murphy reaped rewards in the coming years, too.