Saido Berahino not close to West Brom recall says Tony Pulis
Friday 30 December 2016 13:09, UK
Tony Pulis says Saido Berahino is not ready to be involved with West Brom's first-team as the striker is struggling with physical and mental aspects of his game.
Berahino has not played since September and has not scored in his last 14 games in all competitions for West Brom, a drought stretching back to February.
The 23-year-old recently returned to the club after being sent to a conditioning camp in France to help him lose weight and regain fitness.
But Pulis said he would not be involved against Southampton on Saturday and offered no timetable for a route back into his plans.
"Saido's getting on with his job. We need to get games into him. He is nowhere near ready we think to start a game of football so it's just about him getting games and that is what we are trying to do," Pulis said.
Pulis was then asked if it was a mental or physical issue affecting Berahino and he added: "It's both. He's trained every day and it's now just about getting him some games."
His continued absence has led to renewed talk of a move away from the club in January, with Berahino's future having been a hot topic in the last three transfer windows.
"We'll wait and see (if there is a possibility of him leaving in the January window). Every window has brought speculation and we have another four or five weeks to get through that," Pulis added.
Pulis confirmed last week that West Brom made a bid to sign Morgan Schneiderlin from Manchester United, who are willing to let the France midfielder leave for the right price.
But he said there was no further update on a move for the former Southampton man and added that there were other transfer priorities to be dealt with as well.
"Morgan is just one of two or three we're looking at. The most important thing is that you do your business with other clubs. It's respectful to other clubs and then you move on from there," Pulis said.
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