Saido Berahino latest: Tony Pulis says West Brom chairman to decide on Newcastle's record bid

The Magpies have earmarked Berahino as the man to solve their goalscoring problems – and are ready to smash their transfer record to sign him.

The 22-year-old missed West Brom’s FA Cup win against Bristol City last night, but Pulis played down his absence, saying he’d been ill.

However, he did say that any decision over Berahino’s future will be made by chairman Jeremy Peace, who is believed to want £20million for the player.

Newcastle are prepared to pay £18million for the England Under-21 star, and must now try and thrash out a deal with the Baggies before the transfer window closes.

Pulis said: “The chairman will decide whether Saido goes or stays. The chairman will make decisions, financially.

“As much as it’s the player, it’s the financial deal and like I say, we’ll leave it with Jeremy to sort it. He was playing (against Bristol City). If he hadn’t been ill, he’d have been playing.”

“He’s picked up a bug that (Rickie) Lambert and a few other players have had over the last few weeks, so we’ve given him a miss.

“But we want to keep Saido if we can.”