Stoke Boss Mark Hughes Claims 'it's Only a Matter of Time' Before January Signing Berahino Scores

Stoke manager Mark Hughes is confident that controversial January signing Saido Berahino will come good and start scoring goals on a regular basis for the Potters.

Berahino joined Hughes’ side from West Brom, after not having played a first team game since September. He has since made 10 appearances for Stoke, but is still yet to open his goalscoring account at his new club.

Berahino started Saturday’s victory over Hull, but was substituted in the 58th minute, much to the disappointment of some Stoke supporters, who booed when the Burundi-born forward was taken off.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference (via the ?Sentinel), before Stoke’s trip to Swansea, Hughes commented that: “My interpretation is that a number of people didn’t agree with my decision to take him off. 

I just felt we needed to change our approach. My view was that Jon [Walters] and Peter [Crouch] would give the opposition a different problem. You want your subs to have an impact and you have to say they did.”

“It wasn’t a reflection on how Saido was playing, far from it, because I thought he had one of his more effective games. But I just thought we had got to a point in the game where we needed to change things around.”

“I think everybody can see he is getting stronger. He needs a goal, which is what all strikers need, just to settle into a club. He’s been close in recent weeks and it’s only a matter of time. He will score goals before the end of the season, we are convinced of that, and even if he doesn’t he is going to be in great shape for next year.”

“We were always of the view that next season would be when he could really hit the ground running, with a full pre-season behind him. But we’ve been really pleased with what he has produced up to this point and he is continuing to progress. He will probably be disappointed when the season ends, because he’s only just starting to get going.”