View: Does Berahino training video prove he has turned a corner after West Brom return comment?
It’s fair to say that the relationship between West Brom and Sadio Berahino has been a tumultuous one over the years.
We all remember the impact he had when he broke into the first team, and that season in 2014/15 when he hit 14 goals in the top flight was a perfect illustration of just how scintillating he could be when he hit top form.
Of course, we also all remember how quickly things fell apart after a proposed move to Tottenham Hotspur failed to materialise in 2015 – Berahino refused to train, never really got back to his best, and ultimately ended up spending a doomed spell at Stoke City where he registered just five goals in 56 outings.
But the forward, who now plies his trade with Belgian outfit Zulte Waregem, has also made it very clear that he would be “100%” eager to rejoin the Baggies if the opportunity presented itself.
And it would seem that he is trying his hardest to turn a corner after some of his prior misdemeanours earlier in his career.
If you need any proof of this, just look at the fitness work he is putting in alongside former Albion defender Shane Nicholson during the ongoing Coronavirus lockdown.
Nicholson shared a video to his personal Instagram account of Berahino putting in the hard yards during a session on Tuesday, alongside the caption: “My Brother Saido Berahino today, working on some agility runs and leaving it all on the field…”
And to be fair to Berahino, he does look sharp and fit.
Rather than treating the curtailment of the Belgian season as an excuse to have himself an extended holiday, he is clearly trying his best to keep himself at the top of his game after a much-improved season on the continent.
But even with a newfound sense of professionalism, you would have to question whether he will ever secure his dream move back to The Hawthorns.
If we could guarantee that we were getting a version of Berahino that would give his all to the club and recapture the form he showed in in 2014, he would be a fantastic signing.
But there is simply no way of knowing whether that would be the case, and for a lot of fans, too much water has passed under the bridge for him to ever be properly welcomed back to the club – no matter how hard he works to change that.
In other West Brom news, West Brom set to play two warm-up matches against PL opposition this week – John Percy.