According to reports from The Telegraph, Chelsea have joined the race to sign West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahino in January.
Since bursting onto the scene with a sensational strike at Old Trafford in 2013, the 22-year-old has emerged as one of the Premier League’s most promising young goalscorers, with ten strikes in eleven appearances for the England U21s and 17 in his last 48 league outings for the Baggies. He’s actually the Three Lions’ second all-time leading scorer for that age group, behind Alan Shearer and Francis Jeffers in joint pole position.
The Burundi-born forward came close to leaving the Hawthorns during the summer amid a sustained pursuit from Tottenham Hotspur, crescendoing into Berahino’s infamous Twitter outburst at Jeremy Peace, claiming he’d never play for the West Brom chairman again, as a £25million deadline day move to White Hart Lane fell through.
Despite since being ‘reintegrated’ back into Tony Pulis’ first team to find three Premier League goals this term, Berahino’s future remains shrouded in doubt. He’s stalling on a contract that will make him one of the club’s top earners at £50k per week, with just 18 months remaining on his current deal come the start of January transfer window.
Manchester United are also known admirers of the 5 foot 11 forward, having been linked with him since the final week of the summer transfer window, and their interest may well have increased amid Louis van Gaal’s self-declared search for “creative, speedy players in attack.”
But the word of the day is that Chelsea have also become a fixture in the race to sign Berahino. They’re ready to axe loan signing Radamel Falcao in January, having managed just one start and one goal in the Premier League since his summer move from Monaco despite costing the Blues a considerable outlay in wages, and Berahino is emerging as an increasingly convincing replacement.
He can play in more than one position, he’s young, he’s home-grown and he’s likely to cost less to sign midseason than some of the other strikers on Chelsea’s radar, such as Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain, PSG’s Edinson Cavani and Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette. Berahino will likely set the Blues back around £25million in one lump sum – the figure Spurs attempted to stretch over a series of instalments during the summer, much to the Baggies’ disliking.