West Brom could've signed Borussia Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2011, it has been revealed.

Former chief scout Stuart White spent 15 years at the Baggies between 2000 and 2015 before he was let go shortly after Tony Pulis was made head coach.

He told Planet Football: "I had been to Dijon on a Friday night to watch one player in particular, a centre forward who didn't impress me at all.

“My 'bonus game' before flying home on the Sunday was Auxerre v Saint-Etienne on the Saturday night.

“Saint-Etienne drew the game 2-2, but Aubameyang and Emmanuel Riviere were tremendous as a pair.

“I came back raving about Aubameyang, and as luck would have it his agent called me the following week, probably because he'd got to know that I had been at the game.

“He was obviously calling many clubs, but the lad was then a Milan player on loan at Saint-Etienne and he was interested in coming to England.

“The outline deal was explained to me and it was clear that he was going to be affordable so I recommended that we pursued it.

“On the back of my shout, a few more of our scouts went out to watch him a week or two later and he scored an early goal against Sochaux in a 2-1 defeat but didn't impress sufficiently on the night, which can happen.

“He then went back to Saint-Etienne, scored 21 in 45 and was subsequently sold to Dortmund for 13million euros. He would have been a free loan to us with a 2 million euros fee tied into the deal had we taken him."