West Brom striker Saido Berahino does not believe fans will begrudge him "going on to bigger things" if he keeps the club in the Premier League.
Berahino, who has scored 14 goals for West Brom this season, received his first England call-up in November and is expected to add to his representative tally again this year.
But the 21-year-old – who had been linked to a £25m move to Liverpool or Tottenham in the January transfer window – said he would be ready to “push on” after securing Albion’s Premier League status.
His current contract at The Hawthorns runs until June 2017, but the striker has turned down an extension offer.
“I’ve got to stay focused on what I’m doing right now, which is scoring the goals and keeping West Brom in the Premier League,” Berahino told Sky Sports News HQ.
“If I can keep them in the Premier League and score as many goals as I can, I’m pretty sure the fans wouldn’t mind me pushing on and going on to bigger things.”
West Brom were set to bring in striker Carlton Cole to join Berahino up front, but the 18-month £500,000 move – for which Cole had already agreed terms and competed a medical – fell through at the eleventh hour.
One addition boss Tony Pulis did manage to make was Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher, an experienced addition who Berahino said had “fit in straight away”.
“He’s done it, he’s been there before, he knows what it’s about," Berahino said.
“You can see he’s got that seriousness about him and wants to help the team to win as many games as possible.”
Pulis has also made his mark early, with goalkeeper Ben Forster describing the training sessions as “brutal”.
“He’s old school: he believes in hard work,” Berahino said of Pulis’s training regime.
“But all the lads have taken to his work well, we’ve been working together, and his main focus since he stepped in the building was to get us together working as a team."
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