I can’t even imagine Sir Alex Ferguson’s face upon hearing reports that Manchester City have put a bid in for Dimitar Berbatov. Following their takeover by Abu Dhabi United Group for Development, reports this morning suggest that their primary transfer target before the window closes today is Berbatov, with rumours of bids from £28 million – £30 + million.
Will City be able to beat their hated rivals to the signing of a player? Having bragging rights for god knows how long? I certainly hope not!
This was not part of the plan. I imagine United were waiting until the very last moment, knowing that Spurs would be wanting to get rid of the player as much as we wanted to sign him. It was a matter of who would crack first. If needed, with time running out, United could cave and offer Spurs what they wanted. There’s no way we’d lose out on signing him for the sake of coughing up an extra £3 million.
Whilst Spurs will be looking for any excuse not to sell him to us, following our ‘disgraceful’ and ‘arrogant’ behaviour, there is something that needs to be considered before the bluenoses get too giddy. The player has to reach an agreement with the proposed club before anything can go through.
Berbatov isn’t getting any younger and after giving two years of his career to Spurs, where he believed they would have achieved a coveted fourth place finish, and therefore entry in to the Champions League, and he wants to play on the biggest stage. Spurs are a long way away from achieving such a goal and Berbatov is right in looking to sign for a club that will offer him that opportunity.
Let’s imagine he was to consider a move to City. He is arguably at the peak of his career right now. By the end of this season, Berbatov will be 28-years-old. Despite the money that City may now be able to spend, they won’t be able to create a team that is capable of finishing 4th this season, simply because today is the last day to sign players. So there would be at the very least, imagining best case scenerio for City, another two seasons before they were playing in the Champions League. Berbatov would be pushing 30-years-old by then and he would have missed the opportunity to play in Europe at his peak.
Moving to City would be no better for him that the prospect of staying at Spurs was for him at the beginning of the summer. He wanted out so he could play against Europe’s finest teams. If he was to go to City, he would be in exactly the same situation he’s in now.
As I type, he is flying to Manchester, although that doesn’t really narrow it down!
Either United have to match City’s bid today or I imagine the player will have to stick around until January where we’d try again. Whilst the panic might have set in initially, to look at the situation rationally means we probably will still get our player. The day is a lot more tense that I was expecting it to be though!
Man Utd News 24/7
I reckon the City story is a load of rubbish, just to make the final day that bit more exciting for the sports editors across the land and especially those on the net.
No way could you make a bid whilst in the midst of a takeover, when it is £30m
Im sick of all this Berba saga.
Now Citeh…
City with Arab money is still city. We have to beat them home & away this season to make them come back down to earth. Berbatov will sign for us
by day’s end….I hope. He will then score the goals against the dippers for us to do the double over them this season.
Well that’s the situation isn’t it. The player must agree to join the club who is bidding for him. Him moving to city would be, career wise, like staying where he is, apart from the fact that he would be in for a pay-rise. Even if their new owners poured Abramovich-style money in, it would take about three seasons for them to really get going, and even they would have a few teams to compete with, so no guarantees. If spurs try to force the city move and Berbatov digs his heels in, then its back to square one with them and they remain with the choice they had yesterday, keep him or sell to us. We can also sweeten the deal with Campbell.
In a ‘worse case scenario’, City sign Berbatov, and probably part with £32M. They still would be 10 players short of a title winning team. We then go out and buy somebody else. Berbatov is not the only striker on the planet. Come on down Mr Huntelaar, and we keep Frazier Campbell.
I nearly shat when I saw the headline at twenty five past one, but i don’t think there is anything to worry about. I for one always thought he was DEAR. If we sign another striker, good. If we sign Berbatov, still good
As if Berbatov would go to bloody City! He would be better of staying at Spurs than joining them.
City really need to know there place, Berbatov would rather play for United for less money than play for them.
fergies gonna surprise us….yet again . us falling out of the berba saga and signing a promising young unknown quantity (like a new solskjaer from norway!)….i’d say …odds on
I don’t think it’s rubbish but nor do I think it’s a serious attempt to sign the guy. It’s a classic attempt to curry favour with the city fans without actually having to lay out any money. There’s no way Berbatov will be at City this season. He knows he can win trophies at United; he knows he won’t at City.
Apart from anything else the ink won’t be dry on the deal with the Abu Dhabi group for another two weeks. Even City’s giddy board would think twice before spending £30M they don’t yet have.
As has been the case all summer, there are two clubs at which Dimitar might reside this term: United or Spurs. That’s it.
BTW: how funny is that picture of Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim holding up a city shirt saying ‘Abu Dhabi United’. Are we sure they know which club they’ve bought???
“moving to city would be, career wise, like staying where he is, apart from the fact that he would be in for a pay-rise.”
And, of course, moving to ManShitty would not give him CL games.
“Even if their new owners poured Abramovich-style money in, it would take about three seasons for them to really get going, and even they would have a few teams to compete with, so no guarantees.”
I partially disagree with this; ManShitty have started well under Hughes – much to my surprise since I thought that the front-office craziness would filter down to the on-field performance – and they have a lot of young, solid players; Didi Hamman is huge for them, too.
I hope he is taking that flight to the red half of manchester Otherwise I just cant think of what he’s gonna tell the media if he joins city. Fingers crossed everyone
Ok, not Huntelaar apparently lol. Anyway the Berbster have to be on glue to sign for city. It’s gonna be an interesting day
If Berbatov can choose, if course, he will definitely choose United…..
If he have to choose between moving to City, abd stay with Tottenham, I think he will stay with Tottenham…..
However, this saga has gone too long, and at the moment there is no way back for Berbatov to stay at White Hart Lane, as he’s simply cannot get on with his team mates there.
So, he’s got to move, and as he’s under contract, he will be allowed to move only if the offer meet the price required by Tottenham.
That’s why I think he will go to Manchester City, which I hope it will not happen.
This summer is a very sad summer for all of United fans. Strating with a very long long saga of Christiano Ronaldo which fortunately, at least, he’s still with us. If this season we end up the summer with no new signing, we only have ourselves to blame.
We sell somany players like Saha, Pique, Silvestre, etc. and from recently games, we can sell clearly that we really to sign a real top class striker, not an over estimate striker like Rooney. Without Ronaldo, we simply don’t know how to score. Rooney keep saying that “I’m not selfish” and never score goals. So, if Berbatov go to City, and we fail to bring in real top class striker, It will be very sad end of this summer.
This is what you get for being so arrogant!! Berbas going to Citeh!! Weve accepted a bid of in excess of £30 mil! How does it feel to be shafted by arabs? You better get used to it.
Yido: You clearly find this ammusing which I can see from a certain point of view.
On the other hand your best player would rather go and join a club like Man City at last minutes notice then stay st Spurs! You two can battle it out to see who gets furthest in the Uefa cup this season.
Can’t wait for the day the oil runs out..
Why did we have to get bought by those penniless glazers?
oh no
bitter rentboys
he has to decide what he wants more…to have a gr8 chance of winning some silverware with one of the best clubs in europe or a massive paycheck that man city will obviously try to tempt him with.