BAD BOYS BANISHED
Stoke ditch Berahino and Jese for survival bid
SAIDO BERAHINO may have played his last game for Stoke this season after manager Paul Lambert banished the forward and team-mate Jese rodriguez for continued indiscipline.
The duo’s bad behaviour has seen them cast out by Lambert, with Berahino sent to train with the club’s under 23 squad due to a catalogue of misdemeanours. Jese meanwhile, has gone AWOL after being spotted in a nightclub in Madrid.
It leaves Lambert battling relegation without two of his top stars ahead of a potentially season- defining trip to West Ham on Monday.
Berahino, who earns £75,000 per week, has been sidelined over poor timekeeping and application and he continues to train with the under 23s after twice being late to sessions in recent weeks. Jese remains AWOL and has almost certainly played his last game for the club, having failed to return from compassionate leave in Spain.
The forward was allowed back to his homeland to visit his poorly son, but has since been accused by his ex-girlfriend — the child’s mother — of partying instead. Stoke are thought to be subsidising slightly less than half of the £130,000-per-week Paris Saint-Germain loanee’s contract.
As revealed by Sportsmail, Jese was due back on Wednesday but did not show and reports emerged from France yesterday that he plans to attend a concert in the Canary Islands this Saturday. ‘ They’re not in the squad,’ said Lambert, who declined to discuss the situation further.
The manager’s hardline approach has been welcomed by the squad and has support from board level as Stoke attempt to claw their way back from 19th place. With his side four points clear of safety, Lambert is not willing to make exceptions and recent performances suggest players are buying into his methods, but Stoke will have to get the wins required without two highly paid strikers.
The Stoke manager preferred to concentrate on those who will be picked.
‘The lads have been brilliant,’ he said. ‘I can’t ask any more than the way they’re playing. They’ve given us absolutely everything in their bodies with the way they’re playing and the level they’re playing at.’