Forward opens up on failed Spurs move – Wanted to play under Pochettino

Saido Berahino had been in fantastic form for West Brom and starred for England U21s in the 2014/15 season. With 20 club goals in 45 games, it seemed only a matter of time before he was going to break into England’s senior side (Wikipedia).

In the summer of 2015, Tottenham made an approach for the striker, but West Brom did not grant the move to North London that Berahino desperately wanted.

His career has gone downhill since then as he left the Hawthorns in 2017 after two below-par seasons and endured another two poor campaigns at Stoke City.

The 26-year-old has been forced to rebuild his career at Belgian club, Zulte Waregem, racking up a decent record since signing for the club last summer.

Berahino has now opened up on how the failed move to Spurs left him heartbroken and that he had no one to give him the right advice in the situation.

Speaking on the Counter Attack Podcast (as relayed by the Sun), the forward said: “I think the only thing that it changed (failed move to Spurs) was the way people viewed me. It brought in extra pressure that I didn’t need at the time.

“I think if I had somebody around me that told me: ‘Look, Saido, you’re not going to move, forget about it – you’ve already done it, you’ve already proven that you can attract a big club, now let’s go and attract two or three big clubs’.

“I never had that type of guidance. I just thought ‘wow, my life is ended’, really. “(I thought) ‘I want to play Champions League, I want to’… no disrespect to West Brom.”

Berahino also admitted that he would have loved to work with Mauricio Pochettino as he felt the Argentine could have helped to take him to the next level.

He added: “I just felt that at the time I’d had had a great season and Tottenham’s come in and that’s going to improve my level, even more, playing with other good players.

“Obviously the manager as well that they had at the time (Mauricio Pochettino) was really into young players, so I thought it would develop my progress fast if I went there. But obviously, it didn’t work out that way so it is what it is.”

Spurs Web Opinion

In hindsight, we were fortunate that West Brom rejected our approach as Berahino doesn’t seem to have the mentality to bounce back from adversity, which is required to be a top player. However, he was just 20 years of age back then and young players often make mistakes. It is a shame that his talent seems to have gone to waste.

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