Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes has admitted to making a mistake when bringing Saido Berahino to the club back in 2017.

The striker joined from then fellow Premier League side West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £12 million and was put on a five-year contract.

It turned out to be a move that didn't work out well for the Potters as the forward scored just three times in the league during his stay at Stoke.

Berahino has now left Stoke, and is playing for Belgian top division side Zulte Waregem. In March of his first season with his new side, he's already netted more times than he did during his stint at The Bet 365 stadium.

Scholes has expressed that the club got it wrong, although didn't shy away from pointing out the fact that the manager picks what players to sign.

When asked about Berahino at the fans forum, Scholes said: "With hindsight, we got it wrong.

"It’s not fair to lay the blame on other people, especially when they are not here (Mark Hughes).

"We sign the players the manager wants, but doesn’t mean the manager takes all the blame when they go wrong, or all the credit when they go wrong.

"I will say there were an awful lot of good signings as well that Mark was backed on."

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The Verdict

Stoke City haven't had the best of times of late, although things do start to be looking up for them in terms of how they are approaching some of their games.

It's interesting to see a question on Berahino at the fans forum, and that highlights how many supporters at Stoke were disappointed with that particular piece of business.

The business since hasn't been anything special either, and they're in a serious relegation battle as they approach a crucial couple of months for their history.

A relegation to League One could be catastrophic for the club, so it's important that they do everything they can in order to stay in the division.