Is that Johnno begging Berbatov?
Berbatov | Fulham player
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
But remember, we never should have signed him in the first place. I wonder which disaster season that was after.
Oh dear.
Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov pledges to stay at Old Trafford | Football | guardian.co.uk
Dimitar Berbatov has insisted he will stay with Manchester United for another year, rejecting speculation about a possible move away from Old Trafford, according to reports in Bulgaria.
Berbatov was left out of the club's Champions League final squad, raising questions over his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson. However Berbatov told the Bulgarian newspaper 24 Hours that he had no plans to seek a move.
"I am a Manchester United player and I will be glad to fulfil my contract. Everyone has some difficulties but I have always fought and will keep fighting for a prime place. I never gave up in my life."
The former Bulgaria captain, who has one more year on his United contract, denied reports that he had stormed away from Wembley before the Champions League final started on Saturday.
"The truth is that I was in the dressing rooms and watched the game on TV. I was just so very disappointed and ashamed that I was left out of the squad. I cannot hide my emotions and I did not want people to see how sad I was. But this was the manager's decision. The pain from Wembley cannot make me give up but only fight more."
The Bulgarian was upbeat about his future at United and said he would keep targeting the Champions League title in his career.
"There is always next year. I will aim for this as long as I play football," he said.
Berbatov was the Premier League's joint-top scorer alongside Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, and said he was focused on winning another title next year.
"Winning England's top scorer title is a grand achievement for me as a foreigner.
"Manchester United is the highest step for me. Everything after that will be a step down. This moment will come but for the time being I am a United player and I want to stay and help win the 20th title, which I am certain is on its way."
Fair fecks to berba, hes saying all the right things.
Dimitar Berbatov has insisted he will stay with Manchester United for another year, rejecting speculation about a possible move away from Old Trafford, according to reports in Bulgaria.
Berbatov was left out of the club's Champions League final squad, raising questions over his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson. However Berbatov told the Bulgarian newspaper 24 Hours that he had no plans to seek a move.
"I am a Manchester United player and I will be glad to fulfil my contract. Everyone has some difficulties but I have always fought and will keep fighting for a prime place. I never gave up in my life."
The former Bulgaria captain, who has one more year on his United contract, denied reports that he had stormed away from Wembley before the Champions League final started on Saturday.
"The truth is that I was in the dressing rooms and watched the game on TV. I was just so very disappointed and ashamed that I was left out of the squad. I cannot hide my emotions and I did not want people to see how sad I was. But this was the manager's decision. The pain from Wembley cannot make me give up but only fight more."
The Bulgarian was upbeat about his future at United and said he would keep targeting the Champions League title in his career.
"There is always next year. I will aim for this as long as I play football," he said.
Berbatov was the Premier League's joint-top scorer alongside Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, and said he was focused on winning another title next year.
"Winning England's top scorer title is a grand achievement for me as a foreigner.
"Manchester United is the highest step for me. Everything after that will be a step down. This moment will come but for the time being I am a United player and I want to stay and help win the 20th title, which I am certain is on its way."
Fair fecks to berba, hes saying all the right things.
Well I would say the same things - I think it also has to do with his contract situation if he digs his heels in and we dont offer him an extension come January he will be able to sign for another club.
To be fair we did this to death a few weeks ago. Saying he will remain for his final year is no good to Utd. He cannot be allowed to leave on a free and I cant see that happening.
He must be offered a new contract and signed this summer or Fergie will sell him
He must be offered a new contract and signed this summer or Fergie will sell him
Has he gone..can the thread of us try and read this thread now...?
Christ knows, I just noticed in the other thread that he's online so I don't know why he's gone quiet. Perhaps the direct questions were too difficult.
cash in on him if he is not going to have a lot of game time in his last year, he has clearly been muscled out by hernandez
This opinion will not make you very popular
Nobody has denied that. It's just people get angry when some of the posters here try to undermine Berbatov's contribution this season.
Johnno doing his best Crerand Legend impression here.
Rumours almost daily about teams mulling over bids for him.
Seems PSG have joined the group (according to this: PSG Make £16m Bid For Manchester United Goal Machine | CaughtOffside )
Would you accept £15m-£16m if a bid came in for him?
Seems PSG have joined the group (according to this: PSG Make £16m Bid For Manchester United Goal Machine | CaughtOffside )
Would you accept £15m-£16m if a bid came in for him?
Yes as he only has 1 year left on his contract. But I can't see anyone bidding that amount. A bid for Berbatov would be around the £10m mark imo.
No, one of our best players, wants to play for us...
And I don't think its nice to do a Veron when he actually scoring us goals...
I'll keep him.
And I don't think its nice to do a Veron when he actually scoring us goals...
I'll keep him.
the full transcript of the interview between Naiden Todorov with the newspaper, “24 Chasa” in Bulgaria.
he made a fantastic contribution this season no denying that but do i personally see him getting in front of hernandez? no not a chance, the hernandez - rooney partnership is strong i like berbatov but i think if he is going to spend the most of next year on the bench (which will more than likely be the case) we should do the sensible thing of trying to get some money back for him
Or we could use him as a superb third choice. Why do you want to sell our top scorer? Especially as we have the option of taking up another year. Meaning he won't be in his final year.
A point from that transcript that Berbatov keeps making, makes me very nervous.
It's almost becoming like a threat and its popping up everywhere.
It's almost becoming like a threat and its popping up everywhere.
This time last year we thought Rooney would be leading the line for us in the coming season and rampaging up the goalscoring charts, I don't think anyone would have guessed he'd end up back playing in the hole and finish with just 11 goals in the league.
Hopefully we can assume that next season won't have a spaz attack like he did in the one just past, but what if he gets injured? Is a strikeforce of Hernandez and Welbeck likely to fire us to glory? Or Hernandez and Owen? We saw Cheech have some awfully quiet games against certain teams this season, who's to say other teams won't examine this and give him a much tougher time next season? Who thought he'd be almost completely negated against Barca just through good use of the offside trap?
Every football season throws up countless unexpected occurrences - while it may seem likely that Cheech/Rooney will start the lions share of our games next season, if it doesn't work out like that and we don't have some good backup to step in it could derail our whole season. All for the sake of cashing in £10-15m on our top scorer from last season, who has stated he's happy to stay at the club and fight for his place.
Thing is Lance, do you particularly want to see a 100k a week striker sitting on the bench all season? I don't particularly think, Fergie, Gill or the Glazers do.... Thats alot of money wasting away..
I think he has one of two options. Take a pay cut or get sold.
If we sell Berbatov, we will have to sign a new striker who's happy to sit on bench and will score 15-20 goals, any suggestions?
I couldn't care less how much he is earning if SAF is happy to keep him and thinks he is worth it.
Sell him or lower his wages, while I can see the point people are making about having a good backup I think 100k a week for a backup is crazy money, so cut his wages or sell him and bring in someone cheaper to be a backup striker. He was never bought to be a backup in the first place but has been put in the shadow of Hernandez. If Hernandez or Rooney did get injured yes you would have a great backup but otherwise you could end up paying top cash for him to sit on his backside all season
Great interview. He's something else.
Looking at most seasons, we only need the bench strikers to score 20-25 goals a season. I think its fair to say that Owen could nab us 10-15 goals a season with more time. Many forget that in his first season for us he scored 9 goals mostly coming off the bench. He'll score goals. I also think Welbeck with the service he'd get at United would be able to increase his goal tally. So really, combined they could do the job. And on a combined salary still cheaper then Berbatov's.
My gripe isn't so much that Berbatov isn't a good back up striker, its that he wasn't signed to be one nor do his wages replicate one. I think he's better then he's shown at United but he'll never get that chance. We won't build a team around him.
Maybe we should call a doctor. Obsession can be an indication of a serious disorder.
Hernandez displace Berbatov from the Wigan game onwards. That's a grand total of 12 league games in which Hernandez got the nod ahead of him.
In the 26 league games before that, Berbatov was first-choice and used that opportunity to become the league's top scorer. The combination of a dip in form from him and a hot streak by Hernandez means Hernandez is currently the preferred partner for Rooney but there's absolutely no guarantee that is permanent.
Berbatov obviously thinks he can fight his way back up the pecking order and there's no reason he can't. I actually think Hernandez went off the boil towards the end of the season and I also think he might find the second season a bit more difficult than the first, with defenders and managers a bit wiser to his attributes and ready to adjust their tactics to negate his threat.
We've also got to bear in mind that Hernandez or Rooney could well be out for a few weeks injured at some point.
If/when Fergie does decide to change things round up front, who do we want coming in to take his place? An established Premier League striker, who finished as the top scorer in the league this season? Or some random new signing who saves us a few quid on wages? Or Michael "legsaglass" Owen?
I just don't understand why people always decide that any player who ever gets dropped or has a dip in form, for whatever reason, is suddenly surplus to requirements. It happens all the time and they end up with egg on their face when the players inevitably finds form again. There were 'tards saying we could do without Rooney earlier this season, for crying out loud. Will people never learn?
Very sensible post. So the alternatives to summarize could be:
1. His contract is extended for a further year on the same wages, higher or even reduced wages (if it is a pay-as-you-play deal and he plays less) and he is used as seen fit by SAF. Assuming also that Berba is fine with this, and from his interviews, it sounds like he is.
2. His contract is not extended and he decides to see out his one remaining year anyway. As far as I know, the player also has to agree to a move if the club accept a bid for him. In January, Berba starts talking to his next club and United don't make any money from him. SAF decides to use him effectively during this one year or he just anchores him on the bench. Not financially viable at all.
3. The club decides to sell him now in the summer and he agrees to a transfer. In this case, who do we bring in or just stick with the ones we have plus Welbeck?
4. He stays, plays and rotates with Rooney and Hernandez in the Premiership, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup and every time he scores a goal, he dedicates it to Johnno. When he scores goal number 25, he takes Feeky out to dinner to celebrate.
Shit. Didn't see MrK's post and I've gone and paraphrased it. Badly.
I think he will find his second season better. He is now use to the pace & style of the PL. Also his partnership with Rooney is entering its peak.
Managers & Players will be more aware of his threat but playing alongside Rooney will give him that edge when faced with difficult opponents.
That's the second interview I've seen from Berbatov where he's mentioned seeing out his contract, no mention of a new deal.
Thing is Welbeck is still unproven at the highest level and Berbatov's overall gameplay is ten times better than that of Owen.
Also I do think it's a big assumption to make that Owen's gonna score 15 goals next season. I've found that many people have started over-rating Owen on the Caf, sure he's a decent option from the bench, but his finishing has been highly erratic since he has come here and is half a player of Berbatov. Basically he's an older, more injury prone version of Hernandez right now.
I would be under-whelmed if we rely on Owen and Welbeck as our 3rd and 4th choice strikers if Berbatov is sold, an injury to Rooney and our season will be finished.
Hopefully.
He definitely had a lot less joy in the last few games of the season than he did earlier on. Being optimistic I'd say it's just a minor dip in form but it's definitely possible the "unknown quantity" factor is wearing off and the opposition have worked on tactics to counteract him.
Happens to a lot of relatively unknown attacking players. the main reason behind "second season syndrome" IMO.
There is the risk of that, undoubtedly, but as you've agreed there's also a risk involved with not having a quality backup. It's not like we'd have unprecedented depth in striking options - Chelsea are likely to be going into next season with Torres, Anelka, possibly Drogba and/or more, despite generally only playing with one striker. Man City will undoubtedly have a 4 or 5 good strikers again next season, and you'd assume they'll be strengthening again in other areas this summer. These squads are the squads we're up against next season. On top of that, would you be utterly and totally shocked if Owen was out for a significant length of time next season with a hamstring injury?
According to this report, United's wage bill for this season is around £130m. Assuming VDS, Neville and Scholes were all on £100k+ a week, that's probably down to £110m or so for next season. We'll probably have a couple more coming in on big wages this summer, but is getting Berbatov's estimated ~£5m a year off the books really that big of a deal? It's huge money to us, but in the context of our wage bill it's really not so big.
I wish we could just make the guy into an attacking midfielder. He'd be brilliant if he could be moulded into one (vision, strength on the ball, composure, skill, etc...) - and would save us a feck-tonne of money.
He must stay and deserves a new contract. For me, there's no question about that.
There are not many players in the world of his game style and technique, now. He gives a great options in the front, making this team more flexible.
There are not many players in the world of his game style and technique, now. He gives a great options in the front, making this team more flexible.
Who says he can't play as one? As long as he is not expected to sprint around all match, and with his skills and vision, he won't have to.
I feel so sorry for Berba, and I'd be devastated if he left. Class player.