Spurs agree fee for Berbatov

[Roadend]

All the confirmation you need too:

1559: "I have just seen Fergie in a supermarket in Cheadle taking back cases of Bulgarian wine. He didn't look happy."
Adam, Cheadle,

[DmanDmythDledge]

Real Madrid have apparantly made a £36.5m bid for Berbatov.

[cheifo]

BBC now reporting that he is in talks with UTD.
I would guess Real want to line up a replacment for Robinhio.

[boovidge]

Berbatov has to be the most overrated player in the Premier League.

[shakermaker1982]

City in for Villa and Gomez as well? Football is a funny old game.

[rambler14]

It would break my heart if after such a long transfer saga where United were the only club bidding if they lost out on such a good player to Man City of all clubs!
United drew this thing out as long as possible and now it seems as if their going to lose out and instead will end up with an emergency signing like Kevin Doyle or Kevin Davies.

The beginning of the end for Man Utd

[boovidge]

The beginning of the end for Man Utd

Bit melodramatic isn't it?

European and English champions and it's the "beginning of the end" just because you might not sign a player?

[Lionel Ritchie]

It would break my heart if after such a long transfer saga where United were the only club bidding if they lost out on such a good player to Man City of all clubs!
United drew this thing out as long as possible and now it seems as if their going to lose out and instead will end up with an emergency signing like Kevin Doyle or Kevin Davies.

The beginning of the end for Man Utd

ffs will you wait til I've this feckin violin tuned up!

Poor disconsolate ManU ...it breaks my heart to see them missing out on a player they put so much time and effort into illegally tapping up.

[cheifo]

What exactly is the difference between Madrids pursuit of Ronaldo and Utds behaviour of Ronaldo?
Citeh have apparantly signed Robinhio.
If Citeh become the new superpower we will await the UTD supporters down the pub shaking their head and saying that too much money is ruining football.

[superfrank]

If Citeh become the new superpower we will await the UTD supporters down the pub shaking their head and saying that too much money is ruining football.

It'd be kind of ironic if they fork over £37m for Berbatov.

[old git]

ffs will you wait til I've this feckin violin tuned up!

Poor disconsolate ManU ...it breaks my heart to see them missing out on a player they put so much time and effort into illegally tapping up.

looks like your happiness has been shortlived unfortunatly i think berbatov will turn out to be an excellent signing for manu

[Lionel Ritchie]

looks like your happiness has been shortlived unfortunatly i think berbatov will turn out to be an excellent signing for manu

What happiness? I'm quite indifferent beyond rolling my eyes at ramblers hysterionics about Manu nearly being beaten fair and square at the best game they play -throwing money at problem positions.

[Dodge]

The beginning of the end for Man Utd

Just noticed this little gem now

[EalingGreen]

Berbatov has to be the most overrated player in the Premier League.

Don't you believe it. OK, his attitude might stink, causing him to disappear in a sulk, but in terms of all round natural ability, he's as good a striker as there is in the EPL.

As a Spurs fan, I don't like the way he messed us around (though I blame the Board for letting him, whilst they held out for every last penny from MU). But I have to admit, he was simply too good to stay with us.

In the end, Ferguson wasn't going to splash £30m on him and forego £7m from Hull for Campbell, unless he thinks he's worth it. And if he can just sort out his head, I wouldn't be surprised if Berba made the same impact at OT as Cantona.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Don't you believe it. OK, his attitude might stink, causing him to disappear in a sulk, but in terms of all round natural ability, he's as good a striker as there is in the EPL.

As a Spurs fan, I don't like the way he messed us around (though I blame the Board for letting him, whilst they held out for every last penny from MU). But I have to admit, he was simply too good to stay with us.

In the end, Ferguson wasn't going to splash £30m on him and forego £7m from Hull for Campbell, unless he thinks he's worth it. And if he can just sort out his head, I wouldn't be surprised if Berba made the same impact at OT as Cantona.

I'm a Spurs follower too and I have been very dissappointed with the boards treatment of both Keane and Berbatov. Spurs transfer policy is too buy players with potential and at a later date to sell them on at a profit. Good structure but the Berbatov saga went on way too long. Mr Levy has ended up sucessfully turning most spurs fans now against him and keane because they wanted to go to more sucessful clubs. The club have made a profit out of each sale so really I can't see why there is a problem. They both could of stayed and done a Judas.
Spurs got roughly 50m for that strike partnership which I'd say was worth 30m.

[cheifo]

When he is on form he is a joy to watch and hard to see him not putting in the elbow grease with Ferguson as his boss.
Clutching at straws here but I am hoping the fact that Berbatov,Rooney,Ronaldo and Tevez like to come deep they might not gel.

Some commentators claimed this year that Rooney looks like he may never become a natural goalscorer(whatever than means) and could he feel side tracked by the other three?

But as I said clutching at straws, on paper they look devastating.

[EalingGreen]

I'm a Spurs follower too and I have been very dissappointed with the boards treatment of both Keane and Berbatov. Spurs transfer policy is too buy players with potential and at a later date to sell them on at a profit. Good structure but the Berbatov saga went on way too long. Mr Levy has ended up sucessfully turning most spurs fans now against him and keane because they wanted to go to more sucessful clubs. The club have made a profit out of each sale so really I can't see why there is a problem. They both could of stayed and done a Judas.
Spurs got roughly 50m for that strike partnership which I'd say was worth 30m.

I've not been "disappointed" by the Board - but only because it was exactly what I expected.

What Spurs fans have to remember, is that they are owned/controlled by Joe Lewis - a billionaire tax exile, who lives in the Bahamas. And whenever I hear of a billionaire who doesn't want to pay even nominal taxes in his own country, I instinctively suspect a greedy, miserable sh1t, who's only interested in money.

In this case, he effectively bought control from Alan Sugar - a mere multi-millionaire - and installed Levy as his front man, with the brief of maximising the profit on his investment. With the spate of clubs now being bought by Billionaires from all over the world, it's clear that Levy considers the best way of doing this is by selling, whilst the market is still buoyant.
Which is why he is loading the club's balance sheet and building up its assets to make it look as attractive as possible to a buyer. This explains e.g. his transfer policy: e.g. buy good, young, mostly British talent with high future sell-on value, and/or sell the likes of Berbatov and Keane for £50m and give Ramos half that to replace them with the likes of Pavlychenko etc.
And it also explains Levy's refusal even to expand WHL, never mind build a new ground, since either would push the club into debt, which would take years to repay, which would therefore affect the club's sale value.
Moreover, it also explains why he sacked Jol when he did. The real key to making Spurs worth, say, £500m, rather than perhaps £300m, is Champions League football.
And it seems that after twice having finished 5th, Spurs demanded Jol go at least one better the next time. But Jol was too honest to make promises he couldn't guarantee to keep (i.e. it might take another season or two), and from that moment, his fate was sealed.
However, Levy held off actually sacking him for purely financial reasons i.e. he hoped Jol would "crack" first, thereby saving the club the full compensation package due to him. (Personally, I'm delighted for Jol that he held out for his wheelbarrow load of cash!).

Which brings us right back to Keane and Berbatov. Robbie realised that the club was going nowhere, probably got itchy feet, and the club did nothing to hold him, since with him approaching his peak at 28, they would never get £20m for him again. With Berba, I don't so much mind them selling him, since he is too good for us (if truth be told), plus he was determined to go to MU.

But if the Board had acted a month or two ago, they could have got up to £25m for him from MU, which would have given Ramos time to line up his ideal replacement. But nothing less than top whack is ever good enough for that weaselly little sh1t Levy, so we ended up with £5m extra, and Fraizer Campbell on loan for a season. Typical.

Tbh, I really hope NI have a good WC Qualifying tournament to give me my footballing kicks, since I am almost totally disillusioned with the carry-on at the Lane...

[cheifo]

Ealing Green I had a lot of time for Jol(and my favourite EPL team are the Gooners!) because he just seemed a good bloke.
However it was widely reported that the fitness of the Spurs players was below standard expected until Ramos took over.True?

Corluka looks an excellant player and is only 22 but surprised they splashed out as Hutton looks excellant any time I have seen him

[lionelhutz]

When he is on form he is a joy to watch and hard to see him not putting in the elbow grease with Ferguson as his boss.
Clutching at straws here but I am hoping the fact that Berbatov,Rooney,Ronaldo and Tevez like to come deep they might not gel.
Some commentators claimed this year that Rooney looks like he may never become a natural goalscorer(whatever than means) and could he feel side tracked by the other three?

But as I said clutching at straws, on paper they look devastating.

I had this argument with a friend if mine who's a United supporter. What will Ferguson do when all four are fit?? Play Ronaldo right wing, Rooney left wing and the other two up top?? I doubt it unless theyre playing Hull at OT.

Plus I do think Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez are two similar, they all love to drop off and create things. It could very well disrupt Uniteds play if all four are on the pitch.

I believe this is the beginning of the end for Rooney at United - Tevez is in much better form since last season, Ronaldo is undroppable and the signing of Berbatov puts major doubt over Fergusons faith in Rooney.

Also, Ronaldo was in reality Uniteds main striker last season - is he going to start up front when he returns with one of the other three? That would leave two of them on the bench or else on the wing where theyre wasted.

[gaiscíoch]

I had this argument with a friend if mine who's a United supporter. What will Ferguson do when all four are fit?? Play Ronaldo right wing, Rooney left wing and the other two up top?? I doubt it unless theyre playing Hull at OT.

Plus I do think Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez are two similar, they all love to drop off and create things. It could very well disrupt Uniteds play if all four are on the pitch.

I believe this is the beginning of the end for Rooney at United - Tevez is in much better form since last season, Ronaldo is undroppable and the signing of Berbatov puts major doubt over Fergusons faith in Rooney.

Also, Ronaldo was in reality Uniteds main striker last season - is he going to start up front when he returns with one of the other three? That would leave two of them on the bench or else on the wing where theyre wasted.

I would agree totaly with you there. I think Rooneys days at Old Trafford are numbered. It's hard to see how Rooney is going to become the player we all thought he would be.

I think if a decent offer comes in for him he will be sold.