Another brick in the wall: Berbatov looks pleased
with himself in Manchester on Monday night
Manchester United and Tottenham patched up their
differences on Monday night as the champions clinched the
£30.75million transfer of striker Dimitar Berbatov before the
midnight deadline.
United had seemed in danger of Premier League sanctions after a
remarkable day of frenzied activity in the north-west, until
Tottenham agreed a compromise.
The Old Trafford club had found themselves in direct competition
with neighbours Manchester City after a takeover at Eastlands
enabled manager Mark Hughes to table a £34m bid for the Bulgaria
striker.
Although that was accepted by Tottenham while a United offer of
£25m plus £7m-rated striker Fraizer Campbell was turned down,
Berbatov insisted he only wanted to move to Old Trafford and spent
the afternoon speaking to manager Sir Alex Ferguson at the club’s
training ground before having a medical at a city centre
hospital.
After passing that, he signed a four-year deal, with Campbell
going the other way on a year-long loan.
United boss Ferguson said: 'This is a key signing. Dimitar
is one of the best and most exciting strikers in world football.
'His style and ability will give the team a different dimension and
I am sure he will be a popular player with the fans."
White Hart Lane sources claimed on Monday evening that Ferguson
was discussing a move with the player in Manchester even though
United had not been given permission to approach him.
United were staying characteristically silent on the matter but
it is understood that they decided to take matters into their own
hands — and risk a Premier League investigation — when time began
to run out towards the end of the deals window.
Although Spurs were privately furious about United’s conduct,
they eventually agreed not to pursue the matter once the deal had
been done. Berbatov, for his part, was so desperate to join United
that he rejected advances from City out of hand.
Last night Berbatov said: 'Joining Manchester United is a dream
come true for me. 'I look forward to playing my part in helping
this club win more honours in the years to come.'
Berbatov's signing is crucial to Ferguson and will give the
option of using a traditional through-the-middle centre forward for
the first time since Ruud van Nistelrooy left the club three
summers ago.
Despite the Bulgarian not featuring in coach Juande Ramos’s last
two Tottenham teams, the London club were determined not to be
bullied by United and accepted City’s unexpected bid with immediate
relish when it arrived just after midday.
Briefly there was hope at City that — fuelled by millions of
pounds from prospective new owners at the Abu Dhabi United Group —
they could pull off one of the coups of their history by hijacking
United’s transfer.
However, soon after manager Hughes said he was hopeful of
meeting Berbatov for talks, the 27-year-old landed at Manchester
airport on a private jet and was whisked straight to United’s
training centre for talks with Ferguson.
As the day grew ever more intriguing, there were reports that
Ferguson drove away from Carrington with Berbatov hiding on the
back seat under a blanket. The Bulgarian was later captured by TV
cameras shaking hands with United chief executive David Gill and
manager Ferguson at Old Trafford.
Meanwhile in London, Tottenham officials fumed at United’s
behaviour and continued to stress that their Premier League rivals
had absolutely no right to be talking to the player.
Even as United pushed the deal through, Tottenham were privately
talking about reporting them to the Premier League and even about
possible High Court action, though they later relented when United
came close to matching their £32m valuation.
Sources at Tottenham remained perplexed by the way United had
pursued the player and, in particular, why they did not just pay
the price if they wanted him that badly.
United, meanwhile, felt Tottenham had been inflexible and had
refused to communicate directly even after signalling the end of
Berbatov’s White Hart Lane career by dumping him out of the
first-team squad in recent weeks.
