Sheffield Wednesday boss delighted as improving Saido Berahino handed Burundi captaincy

The 28-year-old has got eight goals and assists in his last eight games in a Wednesday shirt, turning on the style in recent weeks as he finally found his form after a tough start to life at Hillsborough.

And his form has not gone unnoticed outside the country, with Burundi manager, Jimmy Ndayizeye, bringing him back into the fray for The Swallows and handing him the captaincy for their 1-0 defeat to Bahrain over the weekend.

But while the attacker missed the 4-1 win over Cheltenham Town on Saturday, Moore hopes to have him back available against AFC Wimbledon – and he’ll no doubt be looking for him to continue his recent form in Owls colours.

Speaking to the media after Berahino got his first call-up since 2020, Moore said, “I’m delighted for him, really… He’d been away from here, and in the summer when I thought we could get him back in, we wanted him here.

“When he arrived we realised that he’d probably lost a bit of the power and speed and tempo that he needed for his game.

“So we’ve been doing some incredible work with him, and credit to him for putting that work in. It’s work that not everybody will see, and he’s getting his just rewards for it.

“And for him to get an international call-up is great for him - we’re really pleased. He’ll have another couple of games for his national team, which is good for him, and it can benefit him when he comes back into the building.

“It’s a shame that he was missing for us this weekend, but his call-up shows that he’s continuing to make progress. We just hope he comes back unscathed and joins back up with us for the next game.”

Berahino’s side take on Liberia this afternoon in their second friendly of the international break, and he'll be desperate to build on his Wednesday form by grabbing his first international goal since scoring against Gabon back in 2018.

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