Just Where Has it Gone Wrong for Stoke City Striker and Former West Brom Man Saido Berahino?

?Formerly revered as one of the top young players in England, Saido Berahino is currently sitting in limbo.

A few bad tweets, bar issues and weight problems mean the former England Under-21 star had to leave West Brom in January, and unfortunately there weren’t many takers.

Whether it was to do with an apparent mentality issue or reservations about his fitness, the club which eventually took a punt on Berahino was Stoke, and they are yet to see a return on any part of the £12m investment, a fee which could potentially rise to £15m.

So what exactly is the problem with Berahino?

Well, currently he’s having a real hard time of impressing Potters manager Mark Hughes. For one reason or another Berahino can’t seem to score this season, despite having made a combined 16 Premier League for West Brom and Stoke.

It’s a far cry from the Berahino we all saw and were impressed by during the 2014-15 season, in which he scored an impressive 14 league goals, wowing with his pace and ability to finish clinically in a team who found it difficult to carve out clear chances.

However, one chaotic deadline day changed everything.

Berahino hasn’t been the same since former West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace refused to sell the 23-year-old to Tottenham, whose late bids in the summer transfer window of 2015 were ultimately fruitless.

A potential strike-force of Berahino and Harry Kane could have been lethal, but the move may not have proved to be successful for the former.

Spurs have a number of players capable of adding goals from out wide and centrally, including Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen, and Berahino may well have ended up rotting away on the substitutes bench under Mauricio Pochettino.

However, that’s basically what happened after the very public bust-up with Peace.

Tony Pulis seemed to lose all confidence and trust in Berahino afterwards, utilising the striker mainly as a substitute and seeing his goal return dry up as a result.

There was then confusion over Berahino’s lack action at the beginning of this season. After a handful of substitute appearances Berahino dropped off the radar, with a drug ban eventually being given as the reason for his absence.

Fitness issues began to arise, with Tony Pulis stating the forward had been sent to France to deal with his issues away from West Brom’s squad, but at that point it seemed as if the player’s connection with his former club had all but evaporated.

It seems as though Berahino was seen as a poisonous figure at West Brom, with Pulis even stating he did not ‘give a damn’ about his former player after he had joined Stoke.

Now, Berahino is joined by a whole host of enigmatic and flair-based players, like Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic, players who can give their strikers optimal service – when they’re on the ball.

Unfortunately for Berahino, those two blow far too hot and cold to be considered reliable in an attacking sense, meaning in order to get the goals he no doubt craves he will need to put the majority of work in himself.

Whether it’s sharpening up those finishing skills in training, learning how to drift into great areas or simply building up his much debated fitness, Berahino has a lot to do to reboot his fledgling career.

Is Stoke the right club for that fresh start? We will have to wait and see.