Jon Smith has made the claim about an unnamed Premier League player that sounds remarkably like it could be West Brom’s Saido Berahino.
West Brom’s Saido Berahino has been linked with an exit from the club
Football agent Jon Smith has been talking to Talksport about a “young English Premier League player” who is set to bypass his club’s high asking price before moving abroad for a tiny fee and then returning to the Premier League.
The report states the unnamed player will move to mainland Europe for a small fee, “probably in January, when he is in the final six months of his contract” and that the player’s club had turned down bids that were £2 million short of the their £20 million valuation.
“He’ll go [abroad] for £400,000 compensation because he can,” Smith told Talksport. “If it went to tribunal here [in the UK], it would be £20m-plus. Then he’ll play there for as short a time as the regulations allow and he’ll come back here for £10m. Maybe £15m. And the club he’s parked at will do very nicely.
“They’ll pay the agents a nice fee. And the player will make a lot more money, and he’ll pay them a fee. And thank you very much.”
Despite not naming him, the player sounds very much like it could be West Brom striker Saido Berahino, who was linked with £20 million exit before the transfer window (Mirror), a footballer whose career has stuttered in the last couple of seasons following an inability to get the move out of the Hawthorns that he wanted over the last few windows, and is now entering the last year of his contract.
Saido Berahino of West Bromwich Albion in action with Jak McCourt of Northampton Town
Berahino finished the 2014-15 season as one of the most promising English attacking talents, scoring 20 goals and securing a call up to the Three Lions squad.
But after a failed move to Tottenham that summer, the forward has had a difficult relationship with the club and former owner Jeremy Peace, and even though he has started four out of five matches this season, Berahino is yet to find the net.
If it is the striker that Smith is discussing, and it is likely we’ll have to wait until January to find out, and Berahino ends up leaving West Brom for very little money, it will be a big slap in the face to a club that have had him on their books since the age of 11.
And if he ends up returning to the Hawthorns as an opponent in the future, you can be sure that he is not going to get the friendliest of receptions from the Baggies faithful.
West Brom’s Saido Berahino celebrates scoring
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