Saido Berahino in West Brom's 'naughty chair'

Berahino angered Baggies officials by suggesting he could leave in the summer during an interview not set up by the club.

And Pulis today claimed the striker's comments were typical of modern young players, saying: "He's been in the naughty chair - but he's OK.

"I've spoken to him and I've spoken to his people. The most important thing Saido has got to do is don't talk about what he wants to do – but actually go out there and do it.

"That's what all the good players do. They actually go out and perform on the pitch.

"If they get to a stage where they're doing that well – and he gets to a stage where he's doing that well – then there will be clubs interested. He's not got to that stage yet.

"If he had I've had had phone calls in this window, and we've had no phone calls whatsoever.

"So the priority for him is to stop listening to all the kerfuffle that goes on and people blowing in his ear and get down to doing what he's paid for, which is playing for this wonderful football club.

"It's got great tradition and we've had some wonderful, wonderful football players at this football club. Saido still hasn't become that, he's got a long way to go yet."

Berahino has had a series of brushes with authority since breaking into the Baggies first team at the start of last season.

But the 21-year-old, who lost his father in Burundi's civil war, remains the club's prize asset. Pulis believes young players in general need to return to old-fashioned values.

The head coach said: "I felt a little bit sorry for him in some respects, speaking to him.

"The kid has been at this club since he was 10 years of age and he's got real respect for everybody at the club and everyone who's helped him to get where he's got so far.

"The question was would he want to go on and play for a top four team or whatever – everybody wants to play for a top four team if they can. His responsibility is to work for us work until that happens.

"And his responsibility is to go out and do his best for us and score as many goals as he can from now until the end of the season.

"Sometimes I worry about young players, the advice they are getting, about the people around them, the people who are directing them.

"With the media attention that follows the Premier League – and young players, especially those with talent and the kid has got great talent - it's a minefield for them at times.

"They must learn and realise whatever they say - if they're being flippant or they don't think about it they'll be jumped upon.

"I think people are different and life is a lot different to when I was brought up and you were brought up. The world has changed.

"Some of these lads now are being brought up with no mentors. Some of them have families who have split up, so they haven't had a dad to look up to, or a dad to control them.

"They go to school now and the teachers are not allowed to scold pupils, tell them off, or do this, that or the other.

"They end up getting through to 18-19 years of age and – no disrespect to anybody – they don't know what's right or wrong because people have not been there to tell them.

"It's not just Saido, there are lots of people out there of similar ilk who have not had that guidance that they really, really need and they could do with it.

"It's our job as a football club to make sure we protect him, not just on pitch but off the pitch as well."