West Bromwich Albion striker, Saido Berahino has threatened to embark on strike following collapse of his proposed controversial move to Tottenham Hotspur.
The threat of industrial action by the England Under-21 international was in protest of the West Brom management’s decision to pull the plug on bids from Tottenham to prize him away from the Hawtons.
Berahino who had a transfer request rejected by the club had hoped to be allowed to join Tottenham on transfer deadline day as the north London club stepped up their interest after two recently rejected offers.
But Albion chairman Jeremy Peace snubbed Tottenham’s third and then fourth attempts to sign the 22-year-old on Tuesday.
It is understood the bids were only marginally better than Tottenham’s second offer, made last month, which would have risen to £21 million with clauses and add-ons.
Peace and Albion manager Tony Pulis are determined to hold onto their star striker, but Berahino, who is desperate to quit the club this summer, was furious with the situation. And he wasted no time in pouring out his anger on his official Twitter account, delivering a statement that suggest he could down tools in protest of the transfer saga.
Hear him: “Sad how I can’t say exactly how the club has treated me but I can officially say I will never play Jeremy Peace,” he tweeted.
Berahino, who scored 20 goals last season, has been left out of West Brom’s last three squads as the transfer saga heated up, with Pulis insisting at the weekend he was not in the right state of mind to play.
And Peace responded to Berahino’s outburst by accusing Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy of unsettling the player with his attempts to sign him for a cut-price fee. “We have a key player who has been very unsettled by antics which were designed to get him out of our club cheaply,” Peace told Albion’s website.
“Those tactics have continued despite my making our position clear in my first conversation with Daniel Levy on this subject in mid-August.
Peace explained the decision of the club to hold on to their prized star despite his desire to make the switch. “I said selling Saido so late in the window was not on our agenda. Tottenham’s offers failed substantially to reflect Saido’s true value while the timing made no allowance for our own recruitment of a suitable replacement for a proven Premier League goal scorer.
“Saido has been unsettled to the point where our Head Coach has not felt able to select him for our last three games.
“We are now left with the task of repairing the damage created by this unfortunate episode”, he adds.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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