Where exactly is all of this hate that I keep hearing about? It should be reported as a hate crime.
More seriously, it is the specific set of circumstances that may potentially lead to the sale of Berbatov -- 30 years old, one year left on his contract, possibly no longer first choice because of an issue that was specifically identified by the manager, as well as young players needing to be integrated in to the squad. Effectively, any decision -- should there even be one to make -- would probably rest on the length of time that the manager believes that Berbatov has left with the club. If it's one or at most two more years, then Sir Alex may well see the benefit of selling Berbatov this summer in order to recoup the maximum value. If it's a further three or four years, however, then it's unlikely that there will be any decision to make at all, regardless of whether the offer is quite tempting in the abstract.
The suggestion that the club doesn't need the money is in one sense true, but it's also a rather limited interpretation of the way that football clubs operate. Manchester United, and more specifically the manager, has previous in this regard going all the way back to the early nineties. Hughes, Ince, Kanchelskis, Stam, Veron, and even more recently, John O'Shea, were all sold while they were still contributing to the team, and for at least one or more of the specific reasons that currently also apply to Berbatov. It's also doubtful whether the accepted narrative in relation to the likes of Beckham and van Nistelrooy completely describes the reasons for their departures, either (meaning that reasons that are not part of the narrative probably also apply).
And while it is true that the club is currently cash rich, that has also been true for much of the last five years -- a period in which the net spend on new players has been just over £30m. More importantly -- to the current discussion, at least -- Sir Alex has even admitted that part of the rationale for selling Brown and O'Shea was to create room in what I presume is the wage bill for the new recruits. This is all fairly normal football club/business practice, of course, but it does suggest that talk of not needing money somewhat misses the point. Manchester United rarely 'need' money from the sale of players, but it would be naive to think that it plays no role in the decision making.
As I said in a previous post, as well as Berbatov played last season, it is difficult to ignore the managers own words and actions in relation to the poor away form and the emergence of Hernandez as an effective partner for Rooney. If Sir Alex genuinely believes -- as he clearly stated -- that the Berbatov-Rooney partnership was a fundamental reason for the lack of functionality of the team away from home, then not only will that almost certainly also affect his thinking in terms of team shape and personnel at Old Trafford, but it effectively relegates Berbatov to a much less prominent role at the club.
Of course, every new season is different from the last and there is always the possibility of a change of circumstance, but the very fact that both the player himself as well as the team benefitted greatly from Rooney's role as a second striker, coupled with Hernandez's pace and threat in behind creating the space that allowed Rooney's form to first return and then flourish, underscores the fundamental change in the structure and emphasis of United's game in the latter part of the season. Whether and where Berbatov fits in to that equation going forward is certainly a question worth discussing, and that is independent of any possible transfer.
But time slows when the Languid One pulls something special out of his boots.