West Bromwich Albion are carrying out their own inquiries to establish how Saido Berahino was arrested on suspicion of a drink-driving offence that only came to the club’s attention a month later. Berahino is due to be interviewed by police in the next fortnight, with Albion keen to get to the bottom of exactly what happened during an incident that took place prior to Berahino being called into the full England squad.
The Football Association have declined to comment on the matter, but it is almost inconceivable that Berahino would have been named in the England squad for the fixtures against Slovenia and Scotland this month if Roy Hodgson had been aware that Berahino had been arrested in October.
Berahino was stopped by police on the M6 motorway, near junction 20 for Lymm, Cheshire,for travelling at “high speed” in the early hours of the morning on 22 October, two days after he scored in Albion’s 2-2 draw at home against Manchester United. e was then arrested on suspicion of drink-driving. The 21-year-old striker was bailed and must return to a police station in Cheshire next month in connection with the incident.
A spokeswoman for Cheshire police said: “At around 03.39am on the morning of Wednesday 22 October, a patrol stopped a car travelling at high speed southbound on the M6 near J20. A 21-year old man was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving, interviewed and was subsequently bailed and is due to appear at a Cheshire custody suite early in December.”
Although it is important to stress that Berahino has not been found guilty of any offence as yet, or charged for that matter, the fact that he was arrested in October would have almost certainly constituted a breach of the FA’s code of conduct for players. Introduced in 2012, the FA’s directive stresses the need for the “highest standard of conduct and behaviour... at all times, including when players are not on international duty” and applies to those representing England at senior as well as Under-21 level.
Berahino, who did not feature in the fixtures against Slovenia and Scotland, has played 13 times for England Under-21s, most recently in the 2-1 victory over Croatia on 14 October - eight days before he was pulled over by police and arrested.
For Berahino, the ramifications could be much more serious if the police decide to take the matter further. Albion, for the moment, are declining to comment and keeping an open mind as they try to piece together some sketchy details surrounding Berahino’s arrest. Berahino, presumably responding to the stories about his arrest, tweeted last night: “Narrow minded people, we live in a blind world!”
It is not the first time that Berahino, who escaped his war-torn homeland of Burundi at the age of 10 to start a new life with his refugee mother in Birmingham, has courted controversy at Albion. Last season he was involved in a physical altercation with James Morrison, his Albion team-mate, and he was also videoed inhaling nitrous oxide in his car, heightening concerns inside the club at that time that Berahino was in danger of going off the rails.
