Sir Alex must have been relieved to have beaten off late pressure from Manchester City for the sulky striker’s signature but one has to wonder why United wanted a player who has acted so unprofessionally anywhere near the club.
It goes without saying that Tottenham were reluctant sellers. Berbatov virtually forced the club’s hand by declaring himself mentally unfit to face Sunderland two weeks ago. Spurs were faced with the choice of either selling their prized asset or letting £30 million of talent rot in the reserves. Like any club, Spurs didn’t have the funds to see him rot so the Bulgarian got his move.
This is the biggest warning that player power is soaring to ridiculous heights. Long-term contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on these days. They may guarantee a weekly wage for the player through sickness and in health but no longer do they represent any sort of loyalty the other way round. It seems any players who want out of their club are now invariably shipped out as soon as possible regardless of the club’s circumstances. It’s a shame that players no longer feel any sort of need to honour their contract.
As well as the sale of Berbatov, Tottenham brought in Verlan Corulka from Manchester City and Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow during a frantic last 24 hours of the transfer window. Juande Ramos will be hoping that when the window opens again that he can use the £30 million to find more players who will be proud to wear the Tottenham shirt.
