Why Saido Berahino Would Not Be an Ideal Signing for Arsenal

Arsenal will travel to the Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion this weekend, and the foremost thing on the minds of everyone in the back four will be how to stop Saido Berahino.

The striker is this season's breakout star from a smaller club. We see such cases every season, it seems, and those players rarely remain with their clubs for very long.

Berahino has been in absolutely stellar form for both club and country recently. He has powered the Baggies' attack almost by himself, scoring seven goals in 12 Premier League appearances and netting 10 in 13 for England's U-21 national team.

He is quite different from a traditional center forward like Alan Shearer, whose goalscoring record for the U-21s he is three away from tying. Berahino is not quite 6' tall and is more scrawny than brawny. But he uses pace, intelligent movement and distinctive class on the ball to get around defenses and create goalscoring opportunities.

Berahino rose to prominence primarily due to a five-game stretch over the course of a month in which he scored six goals. He hit the back of the net in every game during that period, during which West Brom faced Liverpool and Manchester United back to back.

Consequently, Berahino was called up to England's senior squad for the first time during the last round of qualifying matches and friendlies. Roy Hodgson decided not to play him in either of the Three Lions' two matches.

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Any time a young player starts to excel at a smaller club, the press likes to whip people into a frenzy with transfer "links" to some elite team or teams that can supposedly justify adding a player like the one mentioned.

So it has begun again. Arsenal and Chelsea are "on transfer alert," according to the Mirror, despite the fact that neither is short of attacking options up front.

Berahino is bound to leave as soon as he can if West Brom do not immediately bump up his laughably paltry £850 per week salary (which equals less than $70,000 per year).

It seems odd that the Baggies would reject Berahino's request to bump his pay up to £7,000 per week ($572,900 per year) based on his recent form. Regardless, he is due for a massive pay raise.

Perhaps the Englishman would have been a good January signing for Arsenal a season ago. The Gunners were then completely dependent on Olivier Giroud up front and collapsed partially because Arsene Wenger ran him into the ground so that the team was without a functioning striker.

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According to the Mirror, Arsenal could have Berahino for just £300,000 if the move was concluded this coming summer. For that price, it's hard to say no to a young talent.

But the purchase of Danny Welbeck abrogates Arsenal's need for another striker. He is a different sort of player than Berahino but has acquitted himself well so far. And Giroud is now back from injury.

Besides, Wenger already has Joel Campbell and Lukas Podolski, both of whom he continues to refuse to use but who are quality options nonetheless.

He has said on numerous occasions that he sees Alexis Sanchez as an option up front. And let's not forget that Theo Walcott has always hankered for a central role.

In short, Arsenal should not focus a second of their time this January on signing more strikers. Any executive energy spent in the transfer market that does not help the Gunners find a center back (or two) is a total waste of time.

Arsenal need only think about Berahino whenever they have to defend against him, aggravating as that may be.

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