<
>

Saido Berahino completes move to Stoke City from West Brom

Saido Berahino signed for Stoke City on Friday after the club agreed a £12 million fee with West Bromwich Albion for the striker.

The Potters have been chasing Berahino for the past three transfer windows, and after lengthy talks with West Brom they have finally struck a deal for the former England under-21 international, who signed a five-and-a-half year deal.

Stoke said the transfer fee could rise to as much as £15m after performance-based add-ons.

Berahino's future has been the subject of speculation for the last couple of years with the striker involved in a much-publicised transfer saga with Tottenham.

The 23-year-old has endured a difficult time at West Brom in the last 18 months, failing to make a first-team appearance since Sept. 10. Before that, he made only five appearances this season, without scoring, and was sent away to France to work on his fitness.

But with Berahino's contract due to expire in the summer, West Brom have now decided to cash in, and Stoke said they were more than please to land their man.

"It's no secret that we have been looking to bring Saido to the club for a long time and to suggest that we are pleased to have finally concluded the deal is an understatement," Stoke CEO Tony Scholes told the club's website.

"We've signed a young English striker who has already proven his ability in the Premier League. After a frustrating period he's now desperately keen to reignite his career and we look forward to seeing him do that with us."

The move came too late for Berahino to be registered for Stoke's game against Manchester United on Saturday, though the club said he would likely attend the game.

At his news conference earlier on Friday, West Brom boss Tony Pulis had said an earlier bid for Berahino had been rejected, but sources said talks have since progressed and a deal has been agreed.

Pulis had said: "The finances will be down between the two clubs, and whether they can get that done that will be between the clubs but at the moment they've made a bid which is nowhere near what this club wants."

Meanwhile, Stoke boss Mark Hughes had sounded doubtful a move would be completed and said there had been no progress since last week.

Hughes also insisted playmaker Bojan Krkic has not expressed a desire to leave. The Spaniard has only started six games all season and has been linked with a move to Middlesbrough.

'We saw something in the press saying that if there was an opportunity he'd like to leave. He hasn't said that to me," Hughes said. "He's our player, he's involved in the squad tomorrow so he's part of what we're doing.

"I think there have been enquiries but nobody's come back with any bids -- we wouldn't encourage them to be perfectly honest. If they do come in, maybe then Bojan or his advisor would want to discuss that. But we're not at that point at the moment.''