Saido Berahino has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 33, drawing a line under a career that touched both Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion at pivotal moments for each club in the Championship and beyond.

In a statement posted on Instagram and headed "A Letter To The Game", Berahino said his "body and heart are ready for the next chapter". That next chapter is coaching: he will serve as part of the staff with Burundi's national team, the country whose colours he also wore as a player, scoring twice in 23 appearances.

The Hawthorns: where it started

Berahino came through the West Brom academy after arriving in England as a child refugee from Burundi, and it is The Hawthorns that he singles out most warmly in his farewell note. He made 121 appearances in all competitions for the Baggies, scoring 36 goals. The season of 2014-15 was his standout campaign, in which he contributed 20 goals across league and cup football.

"I want to thank West Bromwich Albion for believing in me when I was a boy," he wrote. "Those years at the club, the goals, the fans, the moments, they will always be special."

His form during that period prompted sustained transfer interest, but departures under a cloud and a difficult relationship with then-manager Tony Pulis meant his later Albion days were troubled. West Brom and Stoke City are both Championship clubs this season, so Berahino's story runs through the heart of the division's recent history.

The Stoke move that never quite worked

In January 2017 Stoke paid £12m to bring Berahino to the Potteries. The fee, significant for a player whose form had already begun to dip, placed considerable expectation on his shoulders. It was an expectation he largely failed to meet.

Stoke suffered relegation from the top flight in 2018, and when Gary Rowett gave Berahino a fresh opportunity in the Championship the following season, he scored five times. However, he fell out of favour once more and left by mutual consent in August 2019 with three years still remaining on his contract. That early exit represented a costly piece of business that supporters of both clubs will remember.

After leaving Stoke he played in Belgium with Waregem and Charleroi, before signing for Sheffield Wednesday under former Baggies manager Darren Moore in August 2021. Spells in Cyprus, India and Slovenia followed, rounding off a nomadic final chapter to his playing days.

What the career adds up to

In European club football Berahino scored 72 goals in total, a figure that sits alongside the broader arc of a talent that burned brightly in his early twenties before circumstances, form and fitness conspired against him. He was called into England's senior squad twice by Roy Hodgson without earning a cap, having represented England at every age group up to under-21 before switching his international allegiance to Burundi.

The retirement statement is notably generous in its tone, with no bitterness directed at any club or manager. "Football has given me everything," he wrote. "From the streets of Bujumbura to The Hawthorns, from the Premier League to places I never imagined I'd play, this game carried a young refugee kid through life."

For supporters of Stoke and West Brom, Berahino represents quite different things: a beloved academy product at one club, and an expensive, unfulfilled gamble at the other. Both judgements are fair, and neither cancels out the other. At 33, he moves into coaching with a story that is harder to reduce to a simple verdict than the goal tallies and transfer fees might suggest.

Frequently asked

How many goals did Saido Berahino score for West Brom?
Berahino scored 36 goals in 121 appearances in all competitions for West Bromwich Albion, with his best season coming in 2014-15 when he contributed 20 goals across league and cup football.
How much did Stoke City pay for Saido Berahino?
Stoke City paid West Bromwich Albion £12m for Berahino in January 2017.
Why did Saido Berahino leave Stoke City?
Berahino left Stoke by mutual consent in August 2019 with three years still remaining on his contract, having fallen out of favour after a brief revival under Gary Rowett in which he scored five times in the 2018-19 season.