Berahino, a fine example of Prem millions turning a fairytale into a nightmare
PS:
WHATEVER the contribution of referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, Liverpool were good value for their win at the Etihad last Tuesday and thoroughly deserve their place in the last four of the Champions League. But on social media, there were suggestions Philippe Coutinho might be regretting his January move to THE story of Saido Berahino’s journey to become a professional footballer in the Premier League should be a heartwarming one. A refugee from war-torn Burundi, his tale should lift the spirits. Instead, he is being paid £70,000 a week for not doing his job, banished to Stoke City’s Under-23 squad because, on more than one occasion, he has not been able to turn up for work on time. In a region that has seen some harsh, harsh times of late, £70,000-a-week Berahino cannot turn up for work on time. Think about that. He has shown up late for training and late for an Under-23s game. His boss Barcelona. He won’t be. Coutinho (right) wanted to go last summer – it was his dream move and he took it as soon as he could.
Only when Liverpool have re-established themselves as a European giant will the Nou Camp no longer be seen as a step-up from Anfield. Paul Lambert insists players arrive at the club’s Clayton Wood training ground at 9.15am.
It is not exactly getting up at some ungodly hour to go down the pit, is it? Berahino had talent. Do not forget, this was the player Mauricio Pochettino was desperate to sign in the summer of 2015. West Brom rejected three bids well in excess of £20million and Tottenham ended up signing Heung-Min Son instead.
Despite a lack of interest from elsewhere, and despite the player serving an eight-week ban for recreational drugs use, Stoke paid £12m for him just over a year ago.
If there was a signpost towards the end of Mark Hughes’ time at Stoke, that was it.
Berahino last scored a Premier League goal on February 27, 2016. His catalogue of misdemeanours off the field include the familiar foible of inhaling nitrous oxide and the more serious crime of drink-driving.
When he gets to work, there are rumours that senior professionals are less than enamoured with his approach to training. His contract, worth £3.5m a year, runs until the summer of 2022. If Berahino swanning in on big money and questionable commitment affected the spirit and dynamic at Stoke, no one would be surprised. He is symptomatic of their current plight. Berahino is not the only one on Stoke’s naughty step, Jese Rodriguez – on loan from Paris Saint-Germain at considerable cost – has been AWOL in Spain.
Stoke City is a club that is deservedly admired for the way it treats its supporters and for taking its role in the community so seriously.
That will continue to be the case.
But owner Peter Coates and chief executive Tony Scholes have been sold some pups over the past couple of years.
Hughes and technical director Mark Cartwright have to take the blame for that.
Never mind the signings, Hughes gave all but four of his squad new contracts in his final year in charge.
Even Peter Crouch got a deal that will take him beyond his 38th birthday.
Top man, Crouch, but he has not scored a Premier League goal in five months.
When Sir Jack Hayward owned Wolves, he once called himself the ‘golden t**’, referring to how much money had been wasted.
It is not quite like that at Stoke and the investment of the Coates family is complemented by the Premier League riches, but their current plight smacks of a typical Premier League problem.
Players being rewarded lavishly beyond their capabilities, blunting their desire to improve, to go that extra yard.
And Berahino is the poster boy for that.