[Slick_Footwork]

Hi Slick

I think to be fair to Cherries Fan, he's probably right in his assertion that Berahino is overrated, based upon what he's seen and what we've also experienced. I agree that you can You Tube a collection of his finest moments but these are some time ago, bearing in mind his short career. For the last 12+ months, his performances have been wretched and his contribution to the Albion has been negligible. In all honesty, when you say "he isn't playing well at present", that could have been said for more than a season and he's only 23 years old, so a substantial period of his career. Like you, I think he has demonstrated tremendous ability but that's a pretty distant memory now and, if you were seeing him now as a non Baggies fan, you would not believe he was worth £2million, let alone £20million. Like you, I feel we should have cashed in. A few weeks ago I was trying to make a case for playing him, on the grounds that we were desperately short of strikers but, even though this shortage still exists, I'd struggle to make that case now. Whilst the failure to buy a striker in the transfer window was a shocker, equally bad is the complete lack of creativity in midfield. If we had that, Rondon would get much better service and we would not be discussing Berahino.

I'd agree he's been poor for some time now. As well as his own loss of confidence, I think that's also due to him being deployed in a number 10 role, where he's completely ineffective. Since Rondon arrived, his opportunities as an out and out striker have been limited to say the least and IMO that's the only position he can operate.

On that basis, I can see how people who haven't seen much of him in the past (such as Cherries fan) can think he's overrated.

That said, I think we can't forget the natural talent he has exhibited in the past and IMO that does somewhat justify the value that people are talking about. This is a young English striker that has already netted Premier League goals against Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal; many of which he created himself. He's a player who makes great runs off the shoulder of the centre half but can also score screamers from outside of the box.

Yesterday he had a rare chance there and despite our midfield being without any creativity whatsoever, so still managed to sniff out a couple of chances. Unfortunately it's just not going for him at the moment... And I get the feeling it is never going to go for him in a Baggies shirt...

That's why we made the mistake not cashing in. It's not because he's overrated or talentless, because he's shown huge potential to be world class. But simply because his head isn't right and he just doesn't fit our current style. If he gets himself fit, I can see him doing well if he goes to a side with a few midfielders who can actually slip balls through to him.