Saido Berahino

Scored his first goal since 27th February 2016 last night. That's not a typo. 2016. He is a striker apparently.

Don't know they're born these footballers.

 

Hes got a nose for these things.

 

It's ridiculous. And he sat on the bench arguing about his contract at West Brom because he'd scored a few goals early on in his career.

Yet he's set for life and will never have to work again.

 

Born in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi,[2] Berahino played football as a child with a ball of plastic bags tied up with laces.[4] His father was killed in 1997 during the Burundian Civil War.[5] He travelled to England alone at the age of 10,[6][7] fleeing the ongoing war to join his mother, brother and sisters who had already been granted asylum in Newtown, Birmingham. He could not locate his family on arrival, and was put in a care home. After his mother Liliane was traced, immigration officials had to administer a DNA test to confirm their relationship.[4]

 

It's clear from above post that he's had a rough ride as a kid but his behaviour as a footballer has been pretty poor from what i've read in the past. Im not sure why any half decent team would touch him.

 

At one period his stock was fairly high & a move to Spurs was on the cards but eventually the deal fell through . I personally hope he gets his form back & gets his career back on track .

 

Just not keen myself on mercenary footballers trying to engineer moves to other clubs/ threatening to go on strike etc.

 

Agree, but I tend to blame mercenary agents more than the players for it is up to them to advise & guide the players , my own thoughts are that they are more interested in lining their own pockets than looking after the players best interests .

 

Without wanting to be contrary, what should a player do if he knows that a more prestigious club, willing to pay him significantly more want his services, but his current club refuse? Think most footballers are mercenaries in some sense, very few play for the team they support.

Berahino didn't help himself during his stand-off with the WBA hierarchy, but they decided to make an example of him and contributed to the stalling of his career.

 

I do like the mercenary line which one of us if we were aware of a job doing pretty much the same paying 5x or 10x more wouldn’t take it?

 

Greedy sell out!

 

Absolutely everyone would take it. But surely you'd continue to do your current job to the best of your ability until you moved jobs - you wouldn't just down tools.

 

It's not really a like for like comparison JC. Top flight footballers are already being paid more money in a year than many of us will earn in our working life so they're not moving on to provide a better life for their families. When a footballer is being paid £50k per week (for example) and another club offers £70k per week does the money really make any difference to their lifestyle, the food they can afford, the holidays they go on, the car they drive? The player really should honour the contract they were happy to sign or wait for the club trying to buy you to make an offer that your current club couldn't refuse. Going on strike or threatening to go on strike is beyond the pale in my opinion.

 

Yeah I take your point. I know the contract system has been discussed on here recently but if you were say an architect firm and you won a contract with a house builder for a set term, do you think it would be acceptable to try and wriggle out of that deal if a better offer came in partway through? I don't see how that is fair unless the original builder is happy to be compensated etc?

Contracts help protect the smaller clubs from teams such as Barcelona coming in a pinching players for next to nothing. Players sign a contract to provide a service- if they feel they are going to be the next Bale or Ronaldo, then perhaps they shouldn't be signing 3 or 4 year deals. They want to have their cake and eat it, basically.

I feel the agents play a huge part and ill advise players on how to get out, but the system as it is at the moment is crap. The top flight players in particular seem to have zero respect for contracts.

If Millwall had come in for Bradshaw and we refused because he was under contract and in the middle of a promotion push- if he then threatened to strike etc. you can guarantee 99% of the BBS would be livid. I don't see the point in contracts if clubs can't honour them.

 

Of course we'd want to but like Mario says it isnt like for like really is it? Players are more like businesses providing a service than individual workers. If they could say give a notice period like us, teams like ours would be very quickly on their arse. All the talent would be spread across a small amount of clubs. The majority of sizeable income we've received over the past few years have been through player sales and sell ons.

 

Might be just me as I am not a footballer apologist, but what does any of this have to do with him getting paid six figures a week to not score a goal for two and a half years?

 

Are the players incapable of independent thought?

 

Footballers are still grown men and should be accountable for their actions... I have a 3 month notice period on my current job. I don’t earn 50k per week, but would still honour it if I found an employer willing to pay me 20% more. I wouldn’t down tools if the management said I couldn’t leave early... it’s what I agreed when I was set on. It’s called integrity.

 

Nothing.

But you also wrote this: "Don't know they're born these footballers" which is a phrase used to describe people (often young people when comparing modern life with the past) who have always had it easy and never experienced hardship. I think it's fair to say that isn't the case for this lad. He definitely knows he's born.

 

To be honest , some players are university graduates & some have had very poor basic education, so yes they are all capable of independent thought but whether they can transpose their thoughts into the financial world of transfers & contracts probably depends on my first sentence but it seems rare these days that players do not use agents.Its obvious James that you are intelligent but sometimes you may need supposed expertise in certain matters , for example , would you buy a house without employing a solicitor ? I feel sure you would use one but there is no guarantee that you would be happy with the service you received .