Louis Saha: Beset by injuries during his time at
the club.
Dimitar Berbatov's transfer to Manchester United is
expected to be finalised this weekend. The Tottenham Hotspur
striker was seen yesterday shaking hands with team-mates and staff
at the club's Essex training ground while United cleared the way
for his arrival by allowing Louis Saha to join
Everton.
United's willingness to allow Saha to leave for no initial fee
suggests a deal with Berbatov is imminent. The Frenchman, a £12.8m
buy from Fulham in January 2004, still had two years left to run on
his £65,000-a-week contract. His departure, combined with the
defender Mikaël Silvestre's exit for Arsenal last week, has taken
over £100,000 off United's weekly wage bill but left United short
of strikers before Monday's transfer deadline.
"I am quite disappointed that my time with Manchester United has
finished like this, with so many injury problems," Saha said
yesterday. "But I am very happy that a club of Everton's stature
have shown they are interested in me. It's a club that is involved
in European football and I was very impressed when I spoke to their
manager, David Moyes. He told me exactly how he wanted me to play.
He was very honest with me. I also spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson and
his opinion was that it would be good for me to sign for Everton
because I would get the chance to play more there."
United will receive nominal payments based on appearances. Moyes
is confident that the 30-year-old, who has been offered a two-year
contract with the option of a third year and will have a medical
this morning, can prove a success if he is given time to return to
full fitness. "Louis is a good centre-forward who has a bit of
everything," Moyes said. "He can run, head the ball and score goals
and he hasn't cost us any money. If I can get him out there 20
times a season, that would give us a chance of winning 20 games. He
picked up a calf strain in training at United, but it isn't far
away from being OK now."
