Is Saido Berahino doing all he can to resurrect his ailing career? It doesn’t look like it.
It feels a long time since Saido Berahino was a name on the lips of seemingly all the striker-hungry clubs at the top of the English game. And, while tenuous links with Manchester United and Newcastle failed to translate into anything more tangible, Tottenham Hotspurs’ interest was plain for all to see.
The result of an impressive breakthrough campaign which yielded 14 goals in 32 Premier League starts and a debut England call-up, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino demanded that Berahino was the talented young forward Spurs required to transform them from perennial nearly-men to bonafide title challenges.
You could see his logic. Berahino was a quick, incisive and rapidly improving forward with an always-helpful penchant for dead-eyed finishing within the confines of the penalty box. Crucially, he was young, with potential by the bucketload. In short, an archetypal Pochettino transfer.
According to the Independent, Spurs launched three bids in the summer of 2015, peaking at £25 million on deadline day. At the time, that felt like a victory for West Brom, proof that they could resist financially lucrative offers for a player whose value could only increase.
However, just over a year later, Tony Pulis would probably consider stumping up the money himself just to palm a Saido Berahino-shaped problem onto another unfortunate manager. Four goals in his last 41 league games, plus constant questions over his attitude and commitment, is hardly befitting of a title-chasing titan, even less one managed by the famously demanding Pochettino.
It wouldn’t exactly go down particularly well with Stoke City or Crystal Palace either, who both bid in excess of £20 million this summer, according to the Daily Mail.
Latest reports from Sky Sports that Berahino has been placed on a special fitness program after being found to be several pounds overweight, therefore, will have every chairman in the land wiping his brow. Fans too. Except those of a Baggies persuation, obviously.
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