Has Saido Berahino turned a corner?

Gary Rowett has seen enough from Benik Afobe and has finally made the hard decision to replace Afobe with Saido Berahino up top, it seems to have paid off for Rowett with Berahino netting a goal against QPR and generally being a nuisance to opposition defences.

A player that has admitted he had lost his way in the past, Berahino has always had the potential to be a top forward like his idols Samuel Eto and Didier Drogba. The past few years have been tough for Berahino with multiple incidents off-field such as an eight-week suspension and disciplinary issues while on-field it wasn’t exactly much better, with Berahino going two and a half years without scoring a goal. All this lead him to be dubbed a flop, another one of those players which Stoke City have signed but are of no use.

However, this season has been quite the upturn in fortunes for Saido Berahino, netting against Huddersfield Town in the EFL Cup, while scoring two goals and assisted one playing on the left-wing for Stoke City as an inside forward. Stoke City fans have begged Rowett to give Berahino a chance to start up front after the continued failings of Benik Afobe and boy did Berahino grasp the opportunity with his hands.

For the first time, Stoke City supporters are seeing the guile and pace on the ball, the positioning off the ball, the strength and tenacity to hold challenges off and most importantly of all that cool, calm finish from Berahino. In this form, Berahino is a vast improvement on Benik Afobe, he offers the x-factor that Afobe doesn’t seem to offer, in short Berahino is a game-changer. For a team lacking a game-changer after Marko Anautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri left, having a man of Berahino’s capabilities can only be a good thing.

In my opinion, Saido Berahino has turned a corner and long may it last.