Sir Alex Ferguson splashed out a club record £30.75million to lure the Bulgarian north from Tottenham last summer.
Although Berbatov was good in patches, finding the net on 14 occasions, largely his debut campaign for the Old Trafford outfit has been written off as a disappointment.
In fact, failing to make the starting line-up for the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in Rome led some to suggest Berbatov might be sold on, less than 12 months after his arrival.
Yet it seems Ferguson has certainly not lost faith in Berbatov's silky skills.
If anything, the 28-year-old is now an even more important figure for the Red Devils given Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have left for pastures new.
It just increases the pressure a notch, not that the ultra laid-back Berbatov has ever given any indication of being affected by such trivialities.
However, he does concede the need for improvement. And he expects it to come.
"I think I can do better," he told MUTV. "I think I can do more. That's why I am happy to be here on the pre-season tour.
"It is always beneficial to start well and have a good pre-season and I feel I am training well at the moment.
Attention
"I am here to score goals and I hope to score more and more for United this season."
Berbatov has yet to open his account on a tour that, after two matches against a Malaysian outfit, now sees United tackle FC Seoul on Friday in a game where Park Ji-sung will undoubtedly be the centre of attention.
Given Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Federico Macheda have all found the target, Berbatov is playing catch-up in the personal scoring duels.
Yet, as Ryan Giggs knows only too well, for United life at the moment is about getting used to operating without the talents of Ronaldo and Tevez.
The departed duo were major inspirations behind United's Champions League-winning campaign two seasons ago. And while Tevez ultimately left in bad-tempered fashion, annoyed at his lack of first-team opportunities, Ronaldo was also a key figure in a third straight Premier League title last term.
However, in his 18 years as a United regular, Giggs has seen countless stars come and go. On each occasion, the Red Devils have responded in the perfect manner.
And the Welsh veteran can see no reason why it should be any different this time round.
"Since I came into the team the likes of Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane and David Beckham have left the club," he said.
"But that is what the manager is so good at - reshaping and re-energising the team.
"Carlos and Cristiano were great players but we move on. As players it's like ships in the night. You just get on with it."
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YES YOU CAN
"Although Berbatov was good in patches, finding the net on 14 occasions .."
Must have been in the Carling Cup, cos he didn't appear in the Top 15 scorers in the Prem.
It would be nice to see Berbatov play further up the field. When he has been played as the front man (Wigan away) he still tends to drop deep though, and goes looking for the ball due to a lack of service.
While he didn't have as bad a season as the berbaflop brigade made out he didn't have the influence he can do. He certainly is capable of scoring more goals, and being a central figure and I'm hoping he will raise his game now Ronaldo as gone, as surprisingly Berbatov seemed to doubt he was good enough for us at times last season.
The main emphasis for Ferguson should be getting the best out of Rooney and Berbatov as there are few partnerships around that have such potential to be so devastating - but both will need more service from the midfield.
Berba is spot on he has a lot more to prove this season and 30 million is a big price tag to live up to flashes of brilliance but what bugs us supporters is the lazy attitude and the fact he does not look bothered sometimes,fans want to see effort and players giving 100 per cent.Giggs also spot on when you look at the list of players he mentioned add Stam Bruce Ole Irwin players we all thought they were irreplacable but we moved on and will do th same again..
Berbatov HAS to deliver the goods this season, it's as simple as that.
It'd be nice to start with a clean slate as far as Berba is concerned. I don't think he will find it hard to improve on last years contribution...unless he goes the whole hog and starts wearing flip-flops instead of football boots...
Yes Dimi, you can do much better. And you'd better cos the crowd will give you a really hard time.
Firstly you must stop that irritating habit of dropping your head and slumping your shoulders every time a pass or shot doesn't come off. And if you score, be happy you miserable git!
Berba can do more, I should hope so and I think he will. It is not often someone comes in to a new team and slots in seamlessly. The pre-season will do him well.
As with most though, I'd like to see a new mid-fields coming in. A Gattuso of 3-4 years ago would have been nice or as soon as Keane left. Possibly Schneider now for the creative side but again I think Anderson will start getting consistency this year too.
how much did you poach him for hahahahahaha, sounds like a bargain to me!!!!!!
There's no reason why he can't get 25 - 30 goals in this side but he has to play in front of Rooney. This guy should get between 5 -10 headers in a season but you never see him at the near or far post for United do you? Things have to change but he has the skill to make it happen. It's also a wonderful opportunity for him to be the main man at at great club.
I think there will be a change in United's way of playing post Ronaldo (Tevez) and that will let out a better Rooney and an even better Berbatov. Valencia will give another kind of service than Ronaldo. Owen's style suits Berbatov much better than Tevez'. Fletcher - mark my words - will be immense this season. My only big concerns is whether Anderson will fulfill his potential, wheter Hargreaves will get rid of his injuries and if Tosic/Nani/Obertan has got what it takes.
He's a class player. Just needs a bit of time to get used to our style of play and a little better service from midfield. If these two things happen then he'll have a great season.
He can and must do better next season. I am one of his biggest fans. I think he has the ability to be a really great player. He can be our main man. I dont want him running round like Tevez or Rooney. I just want him in the right posistions more often. I want him to dictate the game using his skills and vision but then he must also make a much bigger effort to get in the box.
Without the long shadow of ronaldo hanging over him; he can grab the oppurtunity to become as big a plaer as ronaldo; he is technically our best player by a countrymile. He needs to have more self belief; he reminds me in many ways of teddy sheringham and his second season is the stuff of legends. So hopefully with roo and owen as support he should achieve his potential this season; i look forward to him proving his doubters wrong; as they say form is temporary; but class is forever;come on berba; we know you can do it!
last season i posted that imo berbatov preferred to be in the centre circle than the box. that problem needs to be corrected .
devils advocate you would'nt of course know this a your lot did'nt qualify for it but united reached the final of the cl . berbatov bagged 4 goals in that competition.
Berbatov: "I can do more"
Not so sure he CAN 'do more', but we all know he needs to 'do more'.
He should spend less time trying to make the game look easy and instead actually look like he's putting in some effort. This may be half the issue with Berbaflop !
He's not wrong there saying that he can do more,the guy has skill in abundance it's just getting him to apply it so we should cut him a bit of slack and see how he goes this season.
Yes I'm sure he will...he must! and there can be no excuses, Berbatov needs to step up to the plate.
walk the walk..........
dead right you need to do more fella and you cant just blame the lack of pre-season practice yes youve got talent but we need to see it more often and bit more gusto in your performance and i dont meen running around like a headless chicken but hold your position and hopefully you might get a bit more service from the midfield and at least smile when you get a goal (thats if you get one)
The Devil's Advocate,
You're probably one of the people that don't 'watch' the game, but just wait for the ball to go into the net.
Berbatov scored 9 and Provided 10 assists in the League. A very good return for a players first season at the club, coupled with the fact that he had no pre-season.
He scored 4 Champions League, and 1 FA Cup goal.
Compare that to Rooney who scored 12 goals and provided 7 assists in the Lague, means their contribution in the league was 19 a piece.
Then we have Tevez, who scored 5 goals and provided 3 assists in the League, which was less than half of Berbatovs contribution, but people still wanted to 'sign him up' when there was no justification to do so for anyone that could see it.
Some people with the IQ of a dry sponge on a sunny beach saw Tevez as the better player, simply because he acted like Battle Ram from He-Man.
If people say Berbatov had a bad season, then Rooney must have had equally as bad a one, but you don't see people getting on his back.
The probem is, alot of unintelligent people look at the price-tag above all else and expect superhuman performances.
Give the guy some credit and save the criticism until there is reason to be critical.
Ronaldo was always the obvious release point for the midfield to launch attacks from. He was also the focal point of attackers' movement as a result. Now this will be Berbatov. The only thing he will need to change is his availability to collect balls from midfield and for attackers and attacking midfielders to be looking for the return ball from Berbatov. Ronaldo tended to hog the ball a little taking on shots himself (less so lass season than the previous one) so this may provide an opportunity for players to get in on the attack more.
Other players will need to provide the fast breaking outlet from defence - this I feel is where Valencia and a hopefully energised Rooney will come in.
Frank Old Trafford
Laughed at your post, funny and i agree.
CAN do more? Why thank you, Captain Obvious, for telling us what we already know. That's about as insightful and enlightening as Free Red taking out his front page ads informing everyone that clubs ACTUALLY buy and sell players and keep an eye on their books. Shocking! But if he doesn't do more, he will be plying his new "can do" attitude with another club. However, if the midfield can more often stay in range of him, instead of he going to them, AND he displays the same aggression (if you can call it that with Berbs) that he did after his barracking last season, a bit more of Ronaldo's goal scoring will be taken on by the Berbs and we will have no more complaints.