Tony Pulis has stated his desire to keep Saido Berahino at West Bromwich Albion and build a team around the 21-year-old striker. Although Pulis acknowledged “everybody is available” and highlighted the fact that Liverpool sold Luis Suárez to illustrate his point, the West Bromwich Albion head coach has been hugely impressed with Berahino so far and said that he wants the forward to spearhead the club’s relegation fight.
After being called up to the England squad in November on the back of an impressive start to the season, Berahino has been linked with several leading Premier League clubs, including Liverpool. Terry Burton, Albion’s technical director, said last week that it would be left to Pulis to decide on whether he wanted to hold onto the club’s leading scorer or cash in on a player who has been no stranger to controversy off the pitch.
Only this week Berahino was charged with drink driving after being arrested by Cheshire Police in October. Berahino will appear before North Cheshire magistrates in Runcorn on 19 January, the same day Albion face Everton at Goodison Park in the Premier League.
While full of admiration for Berahino’s football ability and his work ethic on the training ground in the lead-up to Saturday’s home game against Hull City, Pulis said that he had held one-on-one talks with the player to stress the importance of being “disciplined” and maximising his talent.
“He’s got his whole footballing career in front of him, he’s been given a gift by God and he’s very fortunate,” Pulis said. “The most important thing that he can do is make the most of it. He has to understand and recognise that to be a professional athlete, and a good professional athlete, you have to be disciplined, and that’s most probably the way the conversation went.”
Asked whether he would prefer to have Berahino for the run-in or £20m to spend, Pulis replied: “For everybody, we’d like to keep him. You get a situation where Suárez goes from Liverpool, when they finish second in the league last year, and they sell him because they thought it was the right deal for the football club. Everybody is available in some shape or form. With Saido there is no difference about that. If you’re asking me: would I want to sell him now? Not at all – because he’s been absolutely first class.”
With his natural goalscoring instincts, Pulis said that he views Berahino as a player to build a team around. “Oh yeah,” said the Welshman. “He’s a goalscorer. If he arrives in the box... he’s got a knack of getting in their late. He’s got the technical ability, he’s also got wonderful balance - he can adjust his feet, adjust his body. He’s gifted.”
