Oracle of Delphi
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Hardy
KC Hill
techman
Graham Fisher
Andrew Aigner-Muehler
LukeS
Craig Hill
Tottenham slaps £30m price on Berbatov
January 4th 2008 05:15
With the January transfer window now open, many clubs are looking to reinforce their teams as the business end of the football season approaches. This could be for a number of reasons i.e. a number of key players are currently injured or because many of the top sides are set to miss key players due to the African Nations' Cup.
One team that has been given the green light to spend are English giants Chelsea. With their star striker Didier Drogba currently injured and also set to be away for the African Nations' Cup, they have been forced to rely on the ineffectual Andriy Shevchenko as their source of goals.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian doesn't even look close to recapturing the form that made him one of the most feared strikers in the world. With that in mind, Chelsea boss Avram Grant has targeted France striker Nicolas Anelka and Bulgaria forward Dimitar Berbatov to bolster his side's attacking prowess.
And it won't come cheap, especially in the case of the latter.
Berbatov's current side, Tottenham Hotspur, are tempted to offload the striker but not without a transfer fee that could shatter the current British transfer record of £30.8 million Chelsea paid AC Milan for Andriy Shevchenko two seasons ago.
While Tottenham boss Juande Ramos has reiterated his desire to keep the 26-year-old Bulgarian at White Hart Lane, he also admitted that the club would be tempted to sell their prized asset for a fee of more than £30 million.
No player is irreplaceable - just ask Arsenal and their decision to let their talismanic captain Thierry Henry leave for Barcelona in July - and any transfer fee in excess of £30 million would make an awful lot of sense for the club to sell a player they bought for £10.9 million in 2006.
Berbatov's agent Emil Dantchev has also weighed into the debate by telling BBC Sport that his client would be interested in a move to "a big club".
"Dimitar wants to fulfil his potential and win trophies now." said Dantchev.
If, however, Chelsea decides to back out from signing the talented forward, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson could pounce and sign Berbatov - a player that he has long admired and even tried to sign during the off-season.
Ramos agrees that his striker was an appealing target for the big clubs because he is free to play in the Champion's League, but remains defiant and fully expects "that at the end of January I will have all my four strikers".
What do you make of the transfer fee Tottenham has slapped on Berbatov? Is this player really worth more than the likes of Thierry Henry? Is ANY player worth in excess of £30 million for that matter?
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Comment by Stanley
however, for all intents and purposes let's start off with a clean slate and and talk about berbatov. i have watched a lot of spurs games this year and he is by far and away the most talented spurs player. robbie keane isn't bad either, but he is no berbatov. the things he is able to do is pretty amazing.
the flipside is that his ego is such a turn off. i don't know if i answered the questions properly though and here is 10 seconds you'll never get back charles haha.
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
I agree with you that he is the most talented Spurs player in the current side. In my opinion, there are players out there worth £30 million but Berbatov isn't one of them. At best, I'd rate him between the £15 - £20 million mark.
But hey, if Spurs do sell him for £30m, then at least he'd give a better return on investment than Shevchenko, right?