Tottenham: Spurs step up their bid to sign West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahino

Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion have reportedly reached an impasse in their negotiations over the transfer of striker Saido Berahino to White Hart Lane.

According to The Telegraph, the two Premier League clubs are nowhere close to agreeing on a fee, and the report claims that the north London club is over £10m ($15.5m) short of the Baggies' valuation of the player.

It is claimed that Spurs have made their first offer for the forward, said to be at £10m, but it is set to be rejected by West Brom, who value the English striker at around £25m ($38.9m).

Mauricio Pochettino is desperate to strengthen his forward line ahead of the new campaign, and is looking at the England U21 forward to partner his international colleague Harry Kane in a new look attack.

The White Hart Lane outfit are looking to offload Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, who failed to meet expectations last season, and according to the Daily Mail, Aston Villa are interested in signing the former, while the latter is said to be attracting interest from Sevilla and Real Sociedad in the La Liga.

Berahino had an interesting 2014/15 campaign, scoring 14 goals to help the Hawthorns outfit finish in 13<sup>th place. However, former Baggies boss Alan Irvine believes that the player is not yet ready to make the step up to the next level.

"Is he ready to play a huge part at a club like Tottenham who want to be challenging for the top four? Probably not yet," Irvine told BBC Radio 5 live.

"I always said to Saido that as long as he kept focus and did the right thing then he would continue to develop. He is a player who certainly has the potential to become a very good striker."

"It's important that he plays. He's at the stage of his career where he needs to play regular games. He's got a talent. His movement is very good," Irvine added.