goal.com/Graham Lister
English Debate: Is Berbatov The Right Man For United?
Wittingly or unwittingly, Manchester United are involved in two of the summer’s more acrimonious transfer sagas. It is not yet clear whether either Cristiano Ronaldo or Dimitar Berbatov will change clubs before the window closes at midnight on August 31st. But whatever happens, relations between United and Real Madrid, the would-be purchasers of Ronaldo, on the one hand, and Tottenham Hotspur, Berbatov’s unwilling sellers on the other, have taken a battering.
Focusing here purely on the Berbatov situation, the question arises - is he worth the aggravation? Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has made a complaint to the Premier League regarding United manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s alleged conduct in his attempts to sign the Bulgarian, for whom the Red Devils have reportedly bid £20million. In response Ferguson is considering legal action against Levy for defamation. Levy branded the Scot “unbelievably hypocritical” and accused him of “sheer arrogance” for quotes attributed to Ferguson in The Sun, which United’s boss emphatically denies having uttered.
The newspaper quoted Ferguson as saying he was “confident” of signing Berbatov. Levy took that as “interference” with Spurs and their player, calling it “probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date”.
Fergie has hit back strongly, promising that, “It is going to be very embarrassing for Tottenham because they have based their complaint on a story in The Sun. I don’t know where they got these quotes from, but it certainly wasn’t me.”
If that is true, serious questions about professional journalistic practice need top be asked of The Sun, but then what’s new. Levy, though, claims Spurs have evidence going back to last summer including direct contact with the player and/or his agent.
The lawyers are licking their lips, but again, given that two of England’s leading clubs have drawn swords on each other, a pertinent question for football fans, especially followers of United, is whether or not Berbatov is worth the aggravation.
It is not hard to see why Tottenham would like to keep the silky, sulky forward. He has been a class act since he arrived at White Hart Lane from Bayer Leverkusen for ₤11million in the summer of 2006, even if his appetite and application have occasionally raised eyebrows. He has formed a formidable and highly productive strike partnership with Robbie Keane, who, worryingly for Spurs supporters, is also unsettled, having responded negatively, from their point of view, to unwanted overtures from Liverpool. Last season, when the two of them each scored 23 goals for Spurs, taking their combined total to 91 since Berbatov joined, the Bulgarian said of his Irish team-mate:
“Obviously there are games when things are not working right but we know how to play with each other. When one is moving the other wants the ball, it's like a telepathic connection. That's what I like, he is a great technical player, he thinks with his head when he is playing and that's what I like most about him."
Keane, and just about everyone else at the Lane, has been bowled over by Berbatov’s sublime skills. But if Levy is resigned to losing a star who apparently fancies playing Champions League football with United, and is consequently rattling his sabre in order to exact the highest possible price - he is thought to be seeking £30million - would that represent good value for money for the reigning English and European champions?
Ferguson said only today in South Africa that after stocking up last summer with four young players (Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson) as part of his team-building strategy, he is delighted with the way things have gone and thinks they can progress even further.
"If you take the squad I had in Moscow for the Champions League final, I had 23 players and those 23 players will still be there,” he said. "It's a strong squad so we're happy with it at the moment. Obviously we always try to improve but it can be difficult to get the right kind of players.”
It is certainly proving difficult to get Berbatov, but is he the right kind of player?
Is Berbatov what they need? Or for that sort of money is he too old at 27? Is he really the “alternative” striker they’ve been missing since Van Nistelrooy left, or just a taller version of what they already have? And is there anyone better who’s available?
Any discussion of Berbatov’s potential value to United may seem disrespectful to Spurs, and it’s a relevant question. And it quickly embraces two other names - one past, one present, in the Old Trafford pantheon. From the past, the shadow of Eric Cantona looms large.
Indeed, when Spurs played Wigan last season, the Latics’ boss Steve Bruce, an Old Trafford graduate, said pointedly of the cultured Berbatov: “He’s sheer class. He makes it look so easy. He reminds me of a top, top player.”
Bruce was not prepared to be drawn further, but the top, top player with whom he was comparing the Bulgarian was a certain moody Frenchman who also happened to wear a turned-up collar and operate on a short fuse. And many United fans believe Berbatov could deliver “the Cantona effect” to Ferguson’s latest youthful side. They see him as the closest thing to the enigmatic Eric currently playing top-flight football. And if he proved to be as influential as the mercurial Frenchman, the response at Old Trafford would be ecstatic.
Although Berbatov is more of a target-man than Cantona was (or than Rooney or Tevez are today), he does also drop deep - and has that ability to dominatye a game and bring the best out of others. The chief beneficiaries of Cantona’s reign at Old Trafford were “Fergie’s Fledglings” - Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville - who all developed apace alongside the Frenchman.
And the feeling is that the player who would gain most if Berbatov joined United this summer would be Rooney. Pele’s comments this week that Rooney has failed to progress as expected “after two or three good years” had the ring of an uncomfortable truth. But United fans will defend the ex-Evertonian by explaining that he has sacrificed himself to the team, that he has become a willing workhorse for Ferguson in order to allow Cristiano Ronaldo, in particular, to flourish.
But pairing Berbatov with Rooney would see the younger man excel. The combination could be dynamite because - despite United’s success over the past two seasons - United have not been playing to Rooney’s strengths. He is wasted out on the wing, where he is often shifted, pragmatically, in Champions League clashes, often finding himself operating almost ads can auxiliary full-back. Nor is he an out-and-out target-man, and high balls up the middle to a Rooney marked by a tall centre-half do not maximise his potential to wreak havoc on opposing defences. That potential remains huge, but at 22, his willingness to work for the team should be handed to a more functional player while Rooney regains his confidence and devastating edge playing off a target-man with Berbatov’s touch and vision.
In one sense, United have been getting away with it in the last two seasons, winning trophies despite fielding an unbalanced attack. Ronaldo’s exceptional 42-goal haul disguised the problem, but he can’t be expected to reproduce that level of marksmanship year after year - assuming he sticks around - and with Louis Saha perennially recovering from his last injury or succumbing to the next one, Ferguson needs to concentrate his attacking resources more effectively. Signing Berbatov would achieve that. The Bulgarian would lend both height and weight to United’s attack.
No doubt his touch, ability to create space and awareness of team-mates’ positions would also go down a storm with United’s fans, as it has with Tottenham’s. Rooney - and when Rooney is rested or injured, Tevez - would benefit in the way that Robbie Keane has at The Lane. Rooney has vowed to score more goals in the coming season, and it’s fair to assume he would achieve his aim the more easily with Berbatov supplying bullets for the Scouser to fire. At the same time, Bulgaria’s skipper could be expected to bag a respectable haul of goals for himself.
Tottenham’s problem now - leaving aside Liverpool’s interest in Keane - is that if, through principle, obstinacy or legalities, Berbatov is not transferred to United, Spurs may well have a disgruntled and possibly demotivated star on their hands, something the highly-focused Juande Ramos would not welcome. Daniel Levy alluded to this when delivering his broadside against United and Liverpool last Friday. Spurs may now feel it is in their best interests to sell him for the highest price fee can exact. Rumours that Barcelona are also interested could give them the satisfaction of not selling to United, though they may need to lower their price expectations to clinch a deal with Barca. They would certainly make enough from selling Berba to finance some more high quality imports to London N17.
As for United, should they be thwarted in their attempts to snare the Bulgarian, the other available options - and there aren’t that many - would fit their bill less convincingly. Roque Santa Cruz has been mentioned. So have Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and David Villa. All have their considerable merits; but the striker who ticks most of United’s boxes right now is Dimitar Berbatov.
Now they need to use a bit of subtlety and diplomacy in their communications with Tottenham. Otherwise a willing Rooney will continue to run himself into the ground up blind alleys, and the unsmiling Berbatov will become a smouldering byword for frustration.
Hmmm... In deep thoughts... 
