How Berahino pressed the self-destruct button...
Once rated higher than Kane, this week he was playing at Crawley
It has been suggested that a ‘rebrand’ transfer abroad is the only way back
When visiting Stoke City’s bet365 Stadium, Gareth Southgate has been known to reminisce about the striker he preferred to harry Kane in his days as england Under 21 manager.
Southgate occasionally asks Stoke executives about Saido Berahino’s progress but is usually told: ‘he needs to behave like a professional.’
The fog around Berahino has been so persistent that it is hard to remember just how sunny his career once seemed.
his first Premier League goal came aged 20 in September 2013, a winner for West Brom at Manchester United.ted. earlier a e that month Southgate,hgate, in his first matchh in charge of the Under der 21s, picked and Berahino was as repaid with the winner. Kane arrived as a late substitute.
But while Kane has maximised his talent, Berahino, seven days s younger at 24, is squandering his.
As Stoke faced West ham on Monday,,Berag
Berahino was playing for the Under 23s at the Checkatrade.com Stadium in Crawley.
It is a remarkable situation given Stoke’s plight, Berahino’s talent and his £75,000-a-week wages.
he scored in the 5-1 defeat by Brighton Under 23s but that is unlikely to convince Paul Lambert to overlook the poor timekeeping and meagre effort that led to his first-team exile.
More than once Berahino has been fined £1,500 for lateness despite living in nearby Cannock. ‘Paul is just not seeing enough from him and won’t make an exception,’ said a source. So there is little chance of Berahino ending an extraordinary senior goal drought that stretches back more than two years. he last scored on February 27, 2016, for West Brom, a deft volley to illustrate why Darren Fletcher once said Berahino was as good a natural finisher as he had seen. It was that ability, and 20 goals in the 2014-15 season, which convinced Stoke to sign Berahino in 2017 for a fee rising to £15million. This sumsummer he will have four yearsye left on his deal. Some have suggested gessuggested a rebrand ababroad is in order, ththree years on ffrom a summer wwhen Mauricio Pochettino tried hhard to sign Berahino for TTottenham. So how can a prpromising career veeveer off track so badly?badl TrauTrauma permeated his youngeryoun years. Amid civil war in BBurundi, Berahino’s father died in 1997 and many believe that had a lasting impact. ‘It has been about trying to find that anchor,’ said a source. his mother Liliane fled to england and, aged 10, Berahino made his way separately. The pair are extremely close. Speaking only French initially, Berahino settled in the shadows of Villa Park, started scoring in Birmingham’s Sunday leagues and joined West Brom in 2004. Steve hopcroft, head of academy recruitment at West Brom, brought him to the club and remembers a ‘shy but happy boy’ who over time made ‘some very poor choices’.
‘If you are impressionable, it is very easy to go off the rails,’ hopcroft told Sportsmail.
An unsavoury episode, previously untold, reveals Berahino’s potential for self-destruction.
Aged 18 he scored four League One goals during a loan spell at Brentford but he would get bored in his hotel and host parties.
Brentford officials were stunned to see tequila sunrises on the room tab, and there was disgust among cleaning staff forced to deal with a particularly repulsive mess after one night.
Brentford terminated the loan early and West Brom were furious.
Sportsmail can reveal that Dan Ashworth — then technical director at West Brom, now in the same role at the FA — even discussed sacking Berahino.
In a separate incident, a driving ban was reduced to a period on a provisional licence, but Berahino risked further punishment by flouting the requirement for L-plates while at the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz.
‘he had to look the part of a footballer,’ said a source.
In november 2013 Berahino signed his first major contract, worth £20,000 a week, and some team-mates recognised a rise in self-regard. James Morrison threw a punch in one dressing-room row and, hours after a defeat by Manchester United, Berahino was filmed inhaling nitrous oxide through a balloon on before driving 120 miles to party in London.
Berahino’s sole england call-up in november 2014 under Roy hodgson was overshadowed by an arrest for drink-driving on the M6 at 3.39am. he was travelling at 110mph and received a 12-month ban.
But goals cover a multitude of sins and by the end of that season Berahino had scored 14 times in the Premier League. Spurs were interested but former West Brom owner Jeremy Peace was stern in the face of a £23m bid.
Berahino posted a tweet threatening to go on strike, refused to sign another West Brom contract and when newcastle tried to buy him in January 2016 Peace wouldn’t deal with a relegation rival. Then the goals dried up.
Berahino paid for a personal striker coach in Allan Russell but a failed recreational drugs test that September — Berahino said his drink had been spiked — meant he had played his last game for West Brom.
‘There were a couple of occasions during his expulsion from the game when he was vulnerable and clearly lonely,’ said a friend.
West Brom kept the positive drug test so secret only a handful knew the real reason for his sessions with a personal trainer in the south of France.
Stoke and then manager Mark hughes knew the back story when they bought him 15 months ago. A high-ranking source said: ‘All managers think they can be the one to extract the best from a player.’
Berahino assisted Jese Rodriguez’s winner against Arsenal in August and some believe the pair could have struck up a good partnership. The AWOL Spaniard has hardly been a positive influence, however.
Berahino’s representatives held talks with Stoke in December but were told he would not be allowed out on loan.
In January, Berahino turned up wearing a matchday tracksuit a day early for a trip to United. Kurt Zouma posted footage on social media, but Berahino denied that he had got his dates mixed up.
he was brought back into the Stoke team briefly before Lambert grew exasperated once more.
hopcroft said: ‘Saido will be watching the World Cup and thinking about having once been ahead of Kane.
‘There will come a point where he will sort himself out because he is an intelligent boy. he might still come back up.’