The Berbatov-Tottenham-Manchester United triangle
Update: Times Online reports that United had made an inquiry for Berba and would move for him next summer., something that both Tottenham and Manchester United have denied (BBC).
Manchester United’s lack of goals (and fit strikers) this season, Tottenham’s poor start that led to the whole Jol-Ramos-Jol situation and the susbsequent rumours that Berbatov was unsettled at the club - all of this has led to a flurry of rumours that Manchester United have tabled a hefty bid for the Tottenham striker and that Berbatov himself now wants to leave the club.
I don’t know if Berbatov wants to leave or not, but if he does, it’s not because he was subbed once, or because a certain player wasn’t bought, or because Jol doesn’t give him a guarantee that he won’t be rotated. The whole “if Bent comes then Berbatov goes” story doesn’t make sense either, because it is to Tottenham’s benefit that 4 quality strikers (Berba-Keane-Bent-Defoe) play for them and with the sheer number of games Tottenham get to play, they are inevitably going to each get a lot of games.
It makes no sense for Tottenham to want to sell Berbatov after what they had been saying the whole of last season and early this summer about keeping him. I don’t buy it, and the only reason I think Berbatov will want to leave Tottenham is because he’s lost faith in his manager’s ability to help them win games (and thus take them to the Champions League), and that could only have happened over the course of the season as opposed to an over-night change.
On the flip side, I don’t see Manchester United going out and buying a striker at this stage, especially as an emergency replacement. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t make sense - adding Berbatov to the squad (or even Anelka) and putting Saha out to pasture would be a smart move. From what Gill and Ferguson have said over the summer, the only way United would be looking for a striker at the moment is if Rossi’s ’sale’ was something unexpected and not planned for. In that case, a move for Anelka and / or Berbatov could very much be on the cards.
The clincher here is Berbatov, and what he wants. If he wants to go and Manchester United catch a whiff of it, Ferguson will throw whatever it takes at Tottenham (I believe he would have stuffed a Heinze dummy and thrown it if they hadn’t burnt all of those at the stake outside Old Trafford) to get Berbatov to come over to the dark side.
Spurs have been at this point before as well - with Michael Carrick last season. Then, they lost a player who was capable of helping them push on to 4th spot. And if Berbatov doesn’t have faith in his manager anymore, it could be the same this season as well.
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Nope. I don’t agree. Berbatov moving to United now doesn’t make sense. Not after we bought Tevez and spent a lot on Nani and Anderson. If we were to play Rooney and Berbatov (in a normal situation, disregarding Rooney’s injury), then Tevez gets left out. Or say we play all three of them, then where would you play Ronaldo. Or would you drop some midfielder.
Then where would that leave Nani and Anderson - players the club have spent a lot investing on? It is one thing building up a strong team. It is entirely different if it is a circus we are trying to build, a la Real Madrid.
There is one thing all footballers greed for: Winning Titles. And Berbatov knows this United offer, which I’m pretty sure existed at some point this summer, could possibly be the last he chance he gets to do so.
There were statements that Berbatov would have talks about a contract extension before the start of the season, which vanished for good and I believe he has come to a silent agreement with the board that he can leave at the end of the season, helping Spurs qualify for that CL spot in the time.
Now after the Spurs board have lost fate in Jol reaching that aim they are ready to talk again, as United indicated they are ready to up their offer seriously (17m was rumored during the summer, not it’s 22m).
So my guess is, when United win on sunday with some ease, Martin Jol will get the sack and Berbatov will be free to join United.
to Red Ranter,
Remember the glory days, who did we have as top strikers? Solskjaer, Sheringham, Yorke and Cole. They were all rotated around and because they all had to fight to prove themselves they all produced the goods as they knew if they didnt they would not be played.
Now who to we have? We have Rooney, who is almost guaranteed a first team place so doesnt always play to his best as he knows he’ll never be dropped; Tevez, who is a a new addition and will take time to settle; Saha, constantly injured and then Solskjaer who is past it. We need another top quality striker to provide competition.
Out of the four you mentioned Solksjaer was happy to be sitting on the bench. He was our dream super sub. He’s a one in a million type of a player. Also Cole and Yorke weren’t super star players who were coveted by ALL clubs when they were bought. They became true stars only at OT. So they owed it to SAF in a way for their success. Rotating big name strikers is an iffy thing. News reports have some unrest reported over Berbatov and Jol about the rotation in Tottenham, whether you believe it or not.
Point is you need a couple of decent strikers who can fill a back up role and two very good strikers. Not four outstandingly good strikers who must start all games to really fulfil their potentials.