Tottenham have lodged an official complaint to the
Premier League over the transfer window conduct of Manchester
United and Liverpool.
Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed United have made a bid for
Dimitar Berbatov and eventually expects the deal to go
through.
Spurs have also been angered by the comments of Liverpool
manager Rafael Benitez, who went public last week by revealing
Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane as a target.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has issued the following statement on
his club's official website: "Today's public comments by Manchester
United's manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar
and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in
their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and
interference with one of our players.
"It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in
the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given
his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real
Madrid.
"This comes after a series of events, dating back to last
summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of
Premier League rules.
"As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the
Premier League about the conduct of Manchester United.
"Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and
we made an official complaint to the Premier League about the
conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.
"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both
clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or
Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing
the player.
"Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now
have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to
prise the players away from us, outside of Premier League rules of
conduct.
"Our subsequent position has been severely compromised by both
clubs making their intentions widely known and indeed making
contact with the players and their agents, without the club's
permission.
"I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we
have not accepted any offer for either.
"However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is
absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of
striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room
in which they were once a positive addition and influence.
"This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both
Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for
Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.
"Irrespective of the outcome and futures of Robbie and Dimitar,
we are continuing to seek to bring in quality, talented players for
the future, who want to play in a Spurs shirt."
Benitez and Spurs have clashed before, in March 2006, when the
Liverpool boss claimed Spurs were "desperate" to sell Jermain Defoe
and take Djibril Cisse.
It led to Benitez's professionalism being questioned by Spurs
officials, and the latest fall-out is unlikely to help the
relationship between the clubs.
Aston Villa had already been upset this summer by Benitez's
comments regarding Gareth Barry's potential move to Anfield.