Irvine: Berahino worth more than £15m

West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Irvine has suggested any interested parties must pay in excess of £15 million for highly-rated England Under-21 international forward Saido Berahino.

Berahino, 21, has impressed for the Baggies thus far this season, having scored  five goals in the club’s first seven English Premier League matches.

Citing the astonishing £11 million fee for Ross McCormack this summer, Irvine has made it clear West Brom will not sell their 21-year-old star on the cheap, and rightly so.

“I would be absolutely astonished if anyone could sign Saido from us for £15 million,” Irvine said. “You look at some of the fees going around in the transfer market that’s just been, everybody seems to start at £7 million.

“Ross McCormack went for £11 million Championship to Championship [from Leeds to Fulham]. What the right figure is I have absolutely no idea and I wouldn’t make the decision as far as that was concerned.

“But £15 million doesn’t sound like a lot of money for a talented, young, English player with great potential who is playing really, really well in the Premier League at the moment and who is scoring goals. It would have to be higher than that.

“I am desperate for him to play really well and if that means other clubs come and start knocking on the door then the club will make a decision on whether these clubs are making the right kind of offers or not.

“If Gareth Bale can be prised away from Tottenham I think it means every player has got his price.”

Over the past three seasons, Berahino–13/10 to score at anytime against Manchester United on Monday–has bagged 12 goals in 49 Premier League appearances for the Baggies.

The Burundi-born striker’s five league goals thus far this season have equaled his total for the entire 2013/14 campaign. Purple patch.

Barry turned down MLS move

Everton defensive midfielder Gareth Barry has revealed he rejected the opportunity to cross the Atlantic and play in the United States in favor of staying on Merseyside.

Barry, 33, signed a three-year deal with Everton after his deal with Manchester City expired  in the summer.

The 33-year-old had offers from unnamed MLS clubs but was dissuaded from joining the league by his coaches, who informed him moving to the United States to ‘wind down’ his footballing career.

“America was an option and there was a conversation about it but when I spoke to the coaches here they said, ‘If you are going there, you are retiring,'” Barry told the Daily Telegraph.

“That was in my head. Obviously I did not agree it was retiring but I sort of agreed it would have been going to a league that is up and coming and not as big as the Premier League, so I could see their point.

“There was a massive case for going there and experiencing it, and I spoke about it with my family – the idea of adapting to a different culture and going through another learning curve was appealing.

“I am sure I would have enjoyed it and there was a strong argument to go, but with the season we had at Everton last year I decided I was not ready to move and the club offered me a three-year contract which showed the faith they had in me.”

In addition to interest from abroad, Barry was also wanted by three or four Premier League sides. However, he ultimately decided to stay on at Everton after a successful season-long loan spell at Goodison Park.