Saido Berahino, called ‘disrespectful’ by former Stoke teammate, returns to England as Sheffield Wednesday sign free transfer

Saido Berahino has made a comeback to English football, joining Sheffield on Wednesday on a free transfer.

The 28-year-old forward has not played for England since leaving Stoke at the end of the 2018/19 season.

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Berahino has been playing football in Belgium for two years

He moved to Zulte Waregem, while also having a loan in Charleroi, both based in Belgium. He became a free agent when he left Zulte Waregem earlier this summer.

And Berahino has embarked on a new challenge with the League One squad under Darren Moore, whom he previously played with at West Brom.

It is understood that the Owls gave him a pay-per-view deal to return to England.

Burundi international Berahino suffered a bitter exit from Stoke after being excluded from the first team over disciplinary issues.

Former Potters teammate Glen Johnson launched an astonishing attack on Berahino, claiming he had an attitude problem.

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It was a bad two-year spell at Stoke for Berahino, who made more headlines off the field

“He had the wrong mindset and the wrong attitude from day one and for some reason when he was at Stoke he was going against the grain,” Johnson told talkSPORT in 2019.

“If we were told to be somewhere at 10 am, he would arrive at 10 am – it was like he had had a vendetta from the start.

“It was weird to watch because every once in a while you could catch a glimpse of his talent in training and think ‘yes you can play’ but he never seemed to want to surpass himself.”

Berahino denied suggestions he had a bad attitude and blamed the lack of father figures for his disastrous loan to Stoke.

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Berahino has been tipped to play for England. His career did not go in that direction, however

And after his comments were tagged as b ******* by Berahino, Johnson responded by calling the player “disrespectful” during his time at Stoke.

“To say I was disrespectful…” Johnson began. “The way he was with his teammates was disrespectful – not what I did.

“I was asked a question and I answered it honestly. He was disrespectful to the club, to me, to the team …

“I wasn’t picking on a person, I was picking on the player about whom I was asked a question and obviously gave the answer.

“There were other people who were bad too, don’t get me wrong, but he was the worst. That’s why I said what I said.

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Can Owls boss Darren Moore get the most out of Berahino?

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