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Stoke City have told Saido Berahino they are terminating his contract following his conviction for drink-driving, according to media reports.

The £12m striker was banned from driving for 30 months and fined £75,000 for being three times over the legal alcohol limited when he was stopped by police in London in February.

Magistrates convicted the 25-year-old Burundi international earlier this month despite being told he was only driving to escape a gang of armed robbers.

And the Mail claims Stoke are now taking action of their own by cancelling Berahino’s contract, which is due to run until the summer of 2022. The newspaper adds: “He is understood to be challenging the Championship club's decision.”

Stoke City are not commenting on the Mail report at this stage.

Berahino was signed from West Brom in January 2017 following a long pursuit by then Stoke boss Mark Hughes, but struggled to make an impact for his new club.

It took him more than a year to score his first goal but by then he had already been disciplined for poor time-keeping by Paul Lambert, the manager who replaced the sacked Hughes.

It appeared Berahino had turned a corner when given a chance to prove his worth by Stoke’s next manager, Gary Rowett, but despite bagging five goal it subsequently emerged that his old issues with discipline and time-keeping had merely been tolerated by the new regime.

In fact, he was in breach of club rules by being in London when he was arrested during the early hours of February 18 following an incident outside a West End restaurant.

It emerged at the time that Stoke were looking at their legal options should Berahino be convicted, and it now seems they have taken decisive action.

The player also has previous convictions for drink-driving in 2015 and being drunk in charge of a vehicle in 2012. His last game for Stoke came against former club West Brom on February 9, nine days before the incident in London.

Following his conviction at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court earlier this month, the player posted a defence of his actions on social media which hinted at an appeal, but as yet this has not been confirmed.

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