Stoke City have announced the signing of Saido Berahino from West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £12million. The Burundi-born Englishman had quite a turbulent time at West Brom, where he came through the ranks. West Brom will be kicking themselves as they could’ve received a potentially higher fee in the summer, when actually the same club, Stoke, made a bid of £20million for the striker back in July 2016.
But Pulis was adamant in not letting go of his player and insisted that he would stay until his contract ran out. But West Brom would’ve been loathed to let him go for free in the summer. Also, it would’ve had a detrimental effect on Saido’s career. He has played only 4 league games this season. Stoke could be the right club for him to continue his stop-start career so far.
Berahino is clearly a talented player, but had his head turned due to this agent’s behaviour off the field. He had time and again conflicted with Baggies boss Pulis and was a constant menace in the squad, causing a lot of unrest within the team. With Stoke bringing him in, it looks like it will be a good deal for all the parties involved or at least one can hope so, for Saido’s sake. Here are 3 reasons why Saido Berahino will come good at The Hawthorns –
Mark Hughes knows how to manage British talent
Although Berahino was a tough cookie to handle at West Brom, Hughes will know how to deal with his temperament. Also, Berahino should be thankful to both Stoke and Mark Hughes, for having up coughed up a decent transfer fee for a player with no match fitness. Thus, he should look to repay some of that faith by putting in good performances and most importantly, scoring goals.