West Brom’s Saido Berahino was a huge Newcastle target last January, when we seemed to be willing to pay ridiculous money for the England U21 International.
But last season 23 year-old Saido did not have a good season, even before Newcastle went after him and by his own admission this year has been a big struggle for him in many quarters.
Newcastle seemed to be willing to pay around £25M for the striker just less than twelve months ago, and now Berahino has only seven months left on his contract at West Brom and could become a free agent in the summer.
Sadio Berahino – shown poor form this season
West Brom will now be kicking themselves for not cashing in on him when they had a chance to make big money on him when Newcastle seemed to go nuts in January trying to sign him last January.
🙂
But things have also changed a lot at Newcastle since January with Rafa Benitez basically taking over the running of all football related matters at the club.
And it could be that Rafa isn’t convinced Berahino can ever be a top player, mainly because of issues other than his obvious skills.
He has rarely been fully fit over the last 12 months and he doesn’t seem to fit the profile of players Rafa likes to sign.
They tend to be younger players with huge potential, strong characters but also a willingness to learn and get the best out of the skills they have.
Rafa demands 100% effort in training and in games and for somebody who hasn’t even been able to get fully fit Rafa may not be too interested in Berahino.
In the 2014-2015 season he scored 20 goals in 45 appearances for West Brom, but since then he has only 7 goals in 40 appearances so his form has gone off big time.
The only way Benitez would take him would be as a free agent or for a low fee in January, and there would then be little downside risk for Newcastle.
But Benitez would have to first be convinced more of Saido’s character and temperament than his skills, which were obvious for everybody to see the season before last.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
5 comments so far
martoon
Dec 7, 2016 at 7:51 AM
Comment #1Just staying on the Shelvey topic, he was on 4 yellows but somebody said the deadline for that has passed – can anybody confirm this?
JAMSHA
Dec 7, 2016 at 7:56 AM
Comment #2i guesss the deadline is 31st dec
Mister Tuff
Dec 7, 2016 at 8:03 AM
Comment #3The cut-off date for yellow cards in the Premier League is December 31. In the Football League, it is November 30.
NezzaNUFC
Dec 7, 2016 at 8:04 AM
Comment #4The fact that NOTHING has happened the Lansbury shows how inept the FA are!
We lost 3 points and nearly lost 2 players because of that w@nk and nothing has happened to him?
Petition needs to go towards getting Lansbury suspended for 3 or more games!
Also I would give Sadio a shot,he’s at WBA so not the most prestigious club to shine but at here and under Rafa who knows how he will turn out WBA will probably accept any offer for him (and no doubt Palace will be after him)
sing in the corner
Dec 7, 2016 at 8:11 AM
Comment #5Nezza
I cannot wait for the Forest game that Friday night between Christmas and New Year. The atmosphere will be white hot hopefully, with all the ingredients in place. Rafa if anything will have to hold back the players’ enthusiasm a little!
I can see a cowardly little ‘calf strain’ keeping Lansbury out of the match, but I hope he plays..