Will Saido Berahino fulfil his potential?

West Brom star Saido Berahino has been linked with a move in the January transfer window

Potential is a funny thing it is highly-intangible. Players are often labelled as wonderkids and stars of the future.

Young players are so often over-hyped after breaking into Premier League teams and then fail to shine, only to disappear into the lower leagues or even out of the game completely.

One of the young players to have broken into a Premier League team in recent years is West Brom forward Saido Berahino. He has scored a few goals and times looked the part of a top-flight player.

His form has led to interest from multiple clubs, despite a lack of first team football of late.

A questionable attitude

Berahino has shown the good, the bad and the ugly of his character in his short Baggies career so far. The biggest showing of his questionable attitude was when Tottenham made a move for the striker on transfer deadline day.

The Baggies were reported to have rejected three bids from Spurs for the youngster, in an attempt to keep their prize asset. Instead of keeping his thoughts to himself or venting his anger behind the scenes he took to social media. It proved to be a big mistake.

The youngster stated on social media that he would not play for West Brom again while Jeremy Peace was still the clubs chairman. It was a heat of the moment kind of decision, but it may have revealed a bit about the youngsters temperament.

He has attempted to reintegrate into the Baggies squad, without much luck it seems, from his amount of time on the pitch of late.

Linked with a move elsewhere

Despite that deadline day show of petulance, Berahino is still being linked with a number of clubs in today’s newspapers.

The Daily Mirror are reporting that Liverpool are set to launch a surprise move for the striker, while the Mail are claiming that Newcastle are set to make an £18million bid to sign the forward. The Magpies are currently favourites to sign the striker at odds of 2/5.

The north east club are struggling for goals and it would seem it is Berahino they are looking at to change their lack of attacking threat.

Tottenham have even been linked with making a renewed move for the Burundi-born star in January, as they look for forward cover for England star Harry Kane. The striker rather unsurprisingly is out-of-favour with Baggies boss Tony Pulis, who is not known for his acceptance of poor attitudes.

The youngster came off the bench on Saturday to score in the Baggies 2-2 draw with Championship Bristol City in the FA Cup third round. Berahino has not started a game for Pulis’ team since the end of October.

He has come off the bench in the Baggies last four Premier League games, but those appearances have added-up to just 59 minutes on the pitch. Something is definitely not right with Berahino. It’s not exactly surprising due to his deadline day outburst.

A waste of talent

One thing is for sure Berahino does have talent. However from the outside looking in he appears to believe his own hype. That hype has slighted been quelled by his lack of appearances for the Baggies.

The youngster sitting on the West Brom bench is just a waste of his talent. It seems he is not going to be picked in Tony Pulis’ starting line-up anytime soon. A move may solve the problem of his lack of playing time.

If he does get the speculated January move then he the youngster needs to make the most of the change and attempt to change perceptions about his attitude. A move away would suit everybody really.

He is not featuring for the Baggies on a regular enough basis to develop his talent and his value will just keep decreasing if he kept out in the cold. West Brom may just be cutting off their nose to spite their face in this situation.

One thing is for sure if everything stays the same the 22-year-old will never fulfil the potential that he has shown in his early career. He could end up as just another highly-rated youngster that never fulfilled his potential and it may just be down to his poor attitude.

Will Saido Berahino fulfil his potential?