"Really broke him" - Tony Pulis makes Saido Berahino revelation after Spurs transfer saga | OneFootball

Saido Berahino was a star for West Brom in the 2014-15 season, scoring 20 goals in 45 appearances, but had a torrid time at Stoke City.

It seemed that Albion would receive a huge fee for a player who at the time was a young talent, and who was only at the beginning of a seemingly fruitful career. Unfortunately for the Baggies and Berahino, it didn't turn out that way, and a bout of off-field conduct among a string of poor performances eventually saw the forward sold in January 2017 to the Staffordshire outfit.

The £12 million that West Brom received at the time felt low, but in hindsight, they got a great deal with the former England under-21 star never really making it to the big time. Despite his on-pitch abilities being clear, the youngster was largely chaotic away from it.

But, for Tottenham, they had a manager who had a proven record of nurturing young players in Mauricio Pocchettino, so they decided to enter the race and bid for West Brom's number nine. Multiple bids were received by the Baggies, but nothing met their valuation.

While this was all going on, Berahino tweeted that he would never play for them again, before deciding to go on strike. The strike didn't last long, but for Berahino, the damage was done. Another tumultuous 18 months was spent at The Hawthorns, scoring just four goals in that period and serving an eight-week suspension for failing a drugs test.

Having been charged with drunk driving multiple times and struggling with poor conduct for the Baggies, the spell ended with Stoke putting in a £12 million bid, which was promptly accepted. Tony Pulis, the West Brom manager at the time, said this about the attacker: "I've spent two and a half years at this club and he's not my problem anymore. I wish him all the best."

During his one-and-a-half seasons in the Premier League with the Staffordshire outfit, Berahino was unable to add to his goalscoring tally, playing 28 games and providing just one assist.

It was not what either the club or the player had envisaged and at the end of the 2017/18 season, the club got relegated with Berahino watching from the stands due to further disciplinary issues before eventually having his contract terminated by mutual consent.

Tony Pulis has explained that Berhaino was 'insecure' despite what people thought, whilst his failed Tottenham move 'broke him'.

Pulis said: "Saido was a complicated character. Everybody thought he had a lot of bravado but he was very insecure.

"I think the situation with Tottenham, where it looked like he would go but it broke down, really broke him in a number of respects.

"He then didn't do a pre-season, he messed around and was badly advised. Albion had a chairman in Jeremy Peace that wouldn't give a damn about anything else other than West Bromwich Albion and there were certain things that had to be in place if Saido was to leave and they weren't. "He was a very inexperienced boy, who had a lot of people in his ear advising him to do certain things. He never got back to the level he was at and it's sad because he had no mentors and, although I got on well with him, he probably saw me as working on behalf of Jeremy Peace. "By the time he realised the Tottenham move was off, he'd lost his fitness, sharpness and he dropped off a gear or two mentally. He was extraordinary for us over the Christmas I joined, and I thought he was a really nice lad.

"If he had his time again, he would go about it differently."

Saido Berahino's wasted potential

The form never really returned for Berahino, even in the Championship, and another arrest for drunk driving in February 2019 ended the forward's time at Stoke, with his contract being terminated by mutual consent.

Spells in Belgium with Zulte Waregem and Charleroi followed, before briefly impressing in flashes with Sheffield Wednesday. However, the now 30-year-old is now plying his trade with Cypriot side AEL Limassol.

There have been plenty of 'what if' players to have graced football over the years, but Berhaino is among the most famous, given the obvious talent at such a young age, which was not made the most of whatsoever.