Chairman confirms Albion are in talks with Berahino over new deal
CHAIRMAN Jeremy Peace today assures Albion supporters that the club has no plans to sell its rising England star Saido Berahino.
The 21-year-old Academy graduate forward is the talk of the Premier League after becoming the top-scoring Englishman and winning a first call to Roy Hodgson’s senior squad.
It has triggered intense speculation about the striker’s future with Berahino facing a deluge of questions about his ambitions.
But Albion have nurtured Berahino since he first arrived at the club as an 11-year-old and the Chairman today stresses that he does not see the striker’s immediate future being played out anywhere else but at The Hawthorns.
He also confirms that talks have recently begun about Berahino, who is contracted for another three years at Albion, extending his current deal commitment.
The Chairman says: “I wish to assure our supporters that Saido Berahino will not be going anywhere in January or, I hope, next summer. It is not in our minds at all to trade a footballer the club has worked so diligently to develop.
“He is contracted to play for West Bromwich Albion until at least the summer of 2017 and we are happy to sit down with him and discuss extending that commitment on terms which recognise his continuing improvement as a footballer and his growing importance to our own plans.
“We have begun that process by opening preliminary talks with Saido’s representatives.
“We are delighted that this development has now taken him all the way to the senior England squad. This reflects proudly on our club and the efforts of all the staff who have played such a key role in Saido’s progress since he arrived here as an 11-year-old.
“However, it seems to have also generated unwarranted and excitable speculation about his future - which I wish to stress remains very firmly aligned to this football club.”