Fergie puts £20m on table for Spurs ace
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EXCLUSIVE: Get Berbatov - Fergie puts £20m on table for Spurs ace
Manchester United have bid more than £20million for Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov in their first major move of the summer. Sir Alex Ferguson has long been an admirer of the 27-year-old Bulgaria striker and wants to add him to his European and domestic Double-winning attack.
Far from being a signing to ease the possible loss of Cristiano Ronaldo, the manager is interested only in strengthening his side and remains determined to keep the Portugal winger at Old Trafford. It is a view shared by both the club-owning Glazer family and chief executive David Gill, who have now granted Ferguson's transfer-spending wish by taking the first serious step in trying to lure Berbatov from Spurs.
The bid poses an interesting problem for Spurs, with all three of their leading strikers now the subject of serious interest from rivals in the Barclays Premier League. Rafa Benitez expressed his desire this week to take Robbie Keane to Liverpool following Peter Crouch's departure to Portsmouth, while Sunderland are pursuing Darren Bent after Kenwyne Jones was ruled out for the rest of the year with a knee injury.
Tottenham have made no secret of what they consider a fair price for Berbatov. Daniel Levy, their hard-nosed chairman, has made it clear he wants at least £30m but United have started the bidding at a significantly lower level.
In their favour is a desire from the player to move to Old Trafford. He cleared his locker at the Spurs training ground at the end of last season and expected to have moved by now. It was embarrassing for Berbatov to have to return for pre-season training after no formal bids were lodged and he can be expected to push hard for a move.
His agent Emil Dantchev claimed the striker wanted a transfer in the January window and is hungry for Champions League football. Tottenham appear resigned to his departure, with manager Juande Ramos having admitted in May that he could not change Berbatov's mind about his future.
Spurs will drive a hard bargain and are expected to ask for £25m plus a player but should be willing to negotiate. Ramos is known to be disappointed that his squad restructuring is not at a more advanced stage for preseason fitness work, despite the arrivals of Luca Modric and Giovanni dos Santos.
He also needs to raise more funds, with Espanyol striker Luis Garcia a £9.5m target. Since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen for £10.9m in July 2006, Berbatov has scored 46 goals in 91 appearances. He has also scored 28 goals in 47 games for Bulgaria. If the deal goes through United will have a strikeforce of Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Berbatov which would be the envy of world football.