Saido Berahino’s troubles at Stoke City continue after it emerged that he was disciplined for arriving late for an under-23 game this week, leading to the striker being made to train away from the first-team squad before the Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
It is believed that Berahino has also been fined over the incident on Easter Monday, when Stoke’s under‑23s played Aston Villa, and there are now major doubts as to whether Paul Lambert will include the forward in his match-day squad for the visit of Spurs. It is understood that the 24-year-old trained with Stoke’s younger players on Thursday.
Lambert, Stoke’s manager, has been determined to impose a stricter regime to try to raise standards at the club. Berahino, who was signed from West Bromwich Albion for £12m in January last year, is understood to have been reprimanded previously for poor time‑keeping, along with several other first‑team players, as part of the manager’s crackdown.
Although Lambert has talked highly of Berahino’s ability and called on him five times from the bench since taking over as manager from Mark Hughes in January this year, the Scot has also given the impression that he has been left deeply frustrated with him at times. As well as questioning fitness levels, Lambert has spoken about the need for Berahino “to do the right things off the pitch” and said that the player needs to “help himself”.
With Stoke second from bottom in the Premier League table and three points from safety, they could do with Berahino rediscovering the sort of form that led to his being called into the England squad in 2014 and prompted Spurs to try to sign him at the start of the following season. Berahino, however, is yet to get off the mark at Stoke and has not scored since February 2016.
