Phillips: West Brom will ‘certainly’ look at signing better players than ex-forward – Exclusive
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips is sure that West Brom will look into signing players who are younger and better than ex-Albion striker Saido Berahino.
Last month, Berahino shared pictures of himself on social media wearing a West Brom shirt while also having an Instagram live video chat with Rekeem Harper.
It led to a discussion on Twitter about whether fans would take the 26-year-old back now that he has finally found some good form in Belgium.
Since joining Zulte Wagerem from Stoke in the summer, Berahino has scored eight goals in 22 appearances across all competitions.
However Phillips, who worked with Berahino at Stoke, sees Albion targeting players who are far better than the ex-Hawthorns striker.
“I think West Brom will target people who are slightly younger than Saido who might have experience in the Premier League – if they go up. They’ll certainly be looking at someone with better qualities than what Saido would offer,” Phillips told West Brom News when asked if Berahino could be a target for the Baggies.
“I was looking forward to working with him and trying to get him back on track and he did at one point. He got in the team, he was playing well and scoring goals. Unfortunately, Saido’s a lad who lets himself down at times off the pitch.
“These clubs now, they do their due diligence, they do their homework, they do background checks and speak to people.
“Unfortunately for Saido I just don’t see a return ever happening.”
Phillips is right.
Berahino was tipped to go on and play for top Premier League clubs and even earned a call-up for England during his breakthrough years at The Hawthorns but he is not that same player any more.
The Burundi international will turn 27 in the summer and simply hasn’t been scoring as often enough as a Premier League team would want him to.
Although his form’s improved at Zulte Wagerem, he still has fewer goals than both Hal Robson-Kanu and Charlie Austin this term.
In other West Brom news, Albion’s turnover plunged by £54million after relegation.