Saido Berahino was once so highly rated that Newcastle United wanted to make the forward their record signing – but the former England under-21 star ultimately ‘messed up’ his career.
Newcastle had a £21m bid turned down by West Brom for Berahino back in January, 2016 following an ‘ambitious’ move in the words of Steve McClaren. The former Newcastle boss even felt the relegation-threatened Magpies were ‘out there making a statement’.
Newcastle made the bid just a few months after Spurs had multiple offers rejected by West Brom, which led to Berahino infamously declaring that he would never play for chairman Jeremy Peace again. Berahino did, but the writing was on the wall and he eventually joined Stoke City in 2017.
“I got a call,” he told Rising Ballers. “The sporting director was like, ‘We’ve agreed a deal to get you up to Stoke. Hurry up and go there and do the medical.’
“I was like, ‘What? I’m not going to Stoke.’ I’ve met the coach, kind of spoke to him, but I had other offers.
“I had Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Watford, but obviously they were the highest so I got kind of pushed: ‘Right, we’ve agreed a deal. Just go.’ I didn’t really want to go, but it was too late then. I went up there, did my medical very first, signed and the following week I went to Stoke.”
Berahino admitted that he ‘100%’ regretted the switch and the forward went on to score just five goals for Stoke in 56 appearances. Former Stoke team-mate Glen Johnson, who also played for Chelsea, Liverpool and England, felt Berahino had the ‘wrong attitude and mentality from day one’ and ‘always went against the grain’. Looking back, Berahino, who is currently without a club, is filled with regret.
“You go through a cycle where you’re really down,” the 30-year-old added. “Imagine if I did play for England, if I went to Tottenham or if that happened, where would I be?
“When you see your ex-team-mates like Harry Kane playing and Raheem Sterling, where would I be if I had someone around or if I had the right advice, frame of mind and discipline?
“You have regrets, for sure. I first started to think about it really deeply when I was 28 or 29 and you’re watching a Premier League match and you see somebody that you played with and you think, ‘I was way better than them’ and they’ve had a 10-year career at a high level. You start to question yourself. You messed up big time.”
