Pulis non-commital over Saido Berahino sale talk
West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace is set to decide where Saido Berahino’s immediate future lies amid reports that Newcastle are readying a £20million-plus bid for the striker.
Baggies boss Tony Pulis, despite insisting Berahino is not fully fit, wants to keep the 22-year-old at The Hawthorns but accepts it is out of his hands.
Pulis talked up Berahino’s goalscoring prowess on Saturday after he marked his first start since October with two strikes in West Brom’s 2-2 home draw against Peterborough in the FA Cup.
Newcastle and Tottenham, who had several offers for Berahino rejected in the summer, are thought to be interested in signing the Albion academy product and the Sunday Express has reported that the Magpies are “prepared to pay over £20million”, with the newspaper also claiming a move to the north-east is “certainly 50/50”.
It is understood Peace will not sell unless a sizeable bid comes in and it will be interesting to see if a club stumps up such an amount before the January window closes at 11pm on Monday.
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Asked about Berahino’s future, Pulis said: “There’s two more days to wait. The chairman will make the decisions on the financial matters and that’s really what it boils down to.
“I think football-wise, everyone would want to keep Saido here. When you put Saido in front of goal, he’s a goalscorer.
“But we need to get him fit because he’s not fully fit. Even today (Saturday), he scored two goals, two great goals, he took them fantastically well, but he’s not as fit as he should be.
“He accepts that and we certainly know that he’s not like he was last year. But having said all that, we could certainly do with him staying – because we’ll need his goals.
“He has that wonderful, wonderful ability to put the ball in the back of the net.”