Ryan Shawcross slams West Bromwich Albion over Saido Berahino

Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross has hit out at West Bromwich Albion by accusing someone at the club of leaking information about Saido Berahino.

Berahino finally completed a switch from the Baggies to Stoke last month after a protracted transfer saga spanning almost two years, but his return to The Hawthorns with his new side on Saturday was marred by a newspaper article which claimed that he had served a drugs ban.

The report had claimed that earlier this season, Berahino was issued with an eight-week ban by the Football Association after testing positive for party drug MDMA.

"I was a bit disappointed with the stories coming out the day before which were obviously no coincidence," Shawcross is quoted by the Birmingham Mail as saying.

"Someone from West Brom's side must have been speaking to the papers and I was very disappointed with that.

"I didn't think it was needed. But Saido's a great player and he's going to be a great player for us. We need to get him focused on the game and in the next couple of seasons he'll be scoring a lot of goals."

Berahino made a substitute appearance in the game at The Hawthorns, which saw his old side claim a 1-0 victory.