United lead Berb race

December 19, 2007

MANCHESTER United look set to beat City to the signing of Dimitar Berbatov after Sir Alex Ferguson put the £15m-rated striker top of his most wanted list for January.

Fergie is determined to land the Spurs star and is willing to offer fringe players such as Louis Saha as make-weights in any deal with White Hart Lane boss Juande Ramos.

Berbatov would also fit the bill at City with boss Sven-Goran Eriksson pledging to spend big in an effort to lift the Blues' strike rate and catapult the club into Europe.

Berbatov wasn't on target as 10-man Tottenham beat City in the Carling Cup quarter final last night - but he put in a man of the match performance that had Eriksson purring.

"He was very good...he has incredibly quick feet for such a tall man," said the Swede.

Eriksson, who despite landing Mexican striker Nery Castillo, is determined to woo another world class forward, had been hoping City's own Bulgarian Martin Petrov might be in a position to help secure Berbatov.

The pair are big friends and after last night's game, when Tottenham ended City's incredible 10-game unbeaten run at home, the duo embraced.

But despite Ramos's efforts to try to persuade Berbatov to stay in London at least to the end of the season, Fergie is supremely confident he's on the verge of landing his top target. Berbatov has even spoken in the past in praise of United's star spangled team.

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Mrs Fullaway`s lodger (19/12/2007 at 10:54)

If he`s got any sense, and wants to win a trophy, he`ll chose UNITED; UNITED; UNITED!

OB1, Transmancunia (19/12/2007 at 11:05)

Salt...wound

red john (19/12/2007 at 11:05)

Not sure about this as a signing; wonderful player dont get me wrong; but who gets dropped to play him? Tevez or Rooney? Neither deserve it on current form; and being a moody player would it not be like having ruud back? Would rather us go for a younger player to intergrate into the squad ie hunntalar; but eh what do i know every time i have a pop at fergie he wins another title!!

better dead than red!!! (19/12/2007 at 11:11)

After last night's display from him, just pay whatever they want and get him, he was different class!
CTID

Jaco, South Africa (19/12/2007 at 11:14)

I dont see why we need to sign Berbatov for a fee of around 20Million, when we can sign Anelka for probably half of that.

Billy S (19/12/2007 at 11:17)

its been a done deal for ages he is coming in Jan Brown going other way not sure about saha in the deal but berba is def coming.

Frank Old Trafford (19/12/2007 at 11:28)

I knew you'd get there in the end! Hope that the bacon butties were good!

Spiderman (19/12/2007 at 11:31)

If you lot sign this player you will win the prem by a country mile this guy is sheer CLASS better than Ronaldo by far.....and i hope that Sven breaks the bank for him.

Peter Doherty. As good as it gets! Levenshulme. (Debt Free) (19/12/2007 at 11:33)

Why is this article on the City page?

g2thesmith (19/12/2007 at 11:34)

if we want him, we can get him! think hes a class act, one of best strikers in the premier league, hes a intelligent player and would link up well with the likes of elano, johnson, castillo, ireland, bojinov, bianchi - other intelligent players. and at 26 hes not that old to help build our team. i think if we miss out on him though we will get crouch. certainly we need somebody with them attributes to help us get into top 4. with boj, bianchi, castillo, vassell, elano, geovani, ireland, etuhu, logan and with hopefully berbatov or crouch we have class options available.

proudtobeblue (19/12/2007 at 11:39)

showed real class last night, def has the talent,but hasn't shown this season the same form he did last season.still,I would love Petrov to give him the nod and see him in sky blue in January

Manc Through and Through, Withington (19/12/2007 at 11:45)

No thanks let the team that has only won 2 european cups have him. Tord will find someone half the price with double the skill.

Mick, Dublin (19/12/2007 at 11:53)

Great news if true. What's your source, Billy S?

The press today is full of rumours about Spurs holding out for a part-ex involving Nani. That would be crazy, IMO.

manu xpert (19/12/2007 at 11:57)

red john u r spot on.we should not go for him cuz we play a different what he is used to. he would slow our game, what we really need is someone young who wil get used our system of play. i rather see us wait and get benzema or jovetic who are gonna be stars very soon. as for berb no cuz to expensive and to old.

manc abroad, OT (19/12/2007 at 12:00)

Great striker, but would he Rooney, and Tevez be happy rotating ? Would prefer a younger striker who would be willing to rotate or an older striker going for glory in final years of his / her career and keep Saha. That way we'd have 4 (if Saha keeps fit) strikers to rotate.

Blue Arab (19/12/2007 at 12:12)

am sure if we move in, he will clearly chose us over the rags.

over there he would have to put up with a screaming dictator who would hit him with boots. he wont get the ball from the midfield, we all know United's diving skills as soon as any of thier MF players get the ball.

where in here, he would be given the oppertunity to work with a class manager, who would treat him like a proper human beign and play with quality players, none of which had ever missed a drugs test.

having said that, we wont bid for him, we have a bigger fish to fry, another south american is on the way.

joey (19/12/2007 at 12:13)

We need Wes more than we need Berbatov at the moment... A replacement right back would need at least half a season to settle in, and yet we can't even afford to draw a game at the moment... unless you're buying someone like Essien or Eboue , an experienced premier league player, everyone else would struggle initally.... Saha we can lose, but we need Brown for the moment. Also, come the crunch games, assuming one of our central defenders gets hurt,we need cover, Pique is available, but is not experienced enough to have all our hopes resting on him.

DC, Amsterdam (19/12/2007 at 12:20)

Where in this article does it say that Fergie has put Berb at the top of his transfer list?

Invisible Man, Manchester (19/12/2007 at 12:24)

After last night I would break the bank. The way he held the ball up and brought others into play was superb. Imagine him as our lone striker and others feeding off? The best performance from an opponent since Zola.
To all you rags questioning Berbatov you are clearly clueless, I pray he doesn't go there as he'd be great for them.
Anyway he can't sign for the rags because as we saw last night he is strong and tries to stay on his feet and they don't like that at the swamp.

Riquelminho (19/12/2007 at 12:27)

How prices fluctuate! He was valued at £40 million+ in the summer and now he's valued at £15 million. Either Berbatov or Huntelaar at United would make my day- I dont care which! Lets face it, Rooney and Tevez aren't going to start every single game, I feel that if he does come, the three strikers will be rotated from time to time; and Berbatov as part of our stikeforce would send shivers down the spine of any defender. He would bring something completely different to our attack.

If Berbatov does arrive, I can see Fergie pairing him with Rooney, and playing Tevez in a more attacking midfield role. The only problem with this is someone from midfield has gotta be dropped and with our midfield looking so immense at the moment I just can't see who.

ted knott, droylsden (19/12/2007 at 12:28)

2nd best again City! underdogs living in the shadow of United and sorry but our management sit back and allow MUFC and their spin doctors to stamp all over us! Utd are getting stronger and stronger we all have to admit it.We have enjoyed a good spell but as I overheard a RAG saying last night OUR BUBBLE HAS BURST I couldn't help thinking HERE WE GO AGAIN...........

curiousyellow, Rusholme (19/12/2007 at 12:41)

LOL why would Berbatov sign for a 'no-mark' team like Citeh? He'd have more chance of furthering his career at Middlesbrough!!

curiousyellow, Rusholme (19/12/2007 at 12:42)

Blue arab
"none of which had ever missed a drugs test."

lol check your facts muppet!

A Mancunian, Manchester (19/12/2007 at 12:43)

I don't want him. Get someone who's a lot cheaper and more suited to our fast-paced style of play. We also need to bring in a full-back like Lahm and/or the Serbian fella we are linked with.

Southern Red (19/12/2007 at 12:51)

Peter Doherty 11:33. What's this about a City Page? I didn't realise they had one - most of them seem to be on the Red page at the moment.

I would love to see a stand-in third striker instead of Saha but I suspect SAF will go for an older and cheaper model rather than spend all that money on Berb.

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