Would Tottenham fans ever accept a Berbatov return?
Tottenham and Manchester United are not known to be rivals; in fact, during the 90’s Spurs fans wanted United to win the title – though that’s due to United’s main rivals for the title back then being Spurs’ arch-rivals rather than for any other reason. Nevertheless, Dimitar Berbatov has been reviled by Tottenham fans since he left White Hart Lane for Old Trafford and looked upon as a traitor by many whilst other former Tottenham men like Michael Carrick have been accepted as gone by Spurs fans. The main reason for the hatred for Berbatov is simple; he forced his way out of the club that had given him his chance in England, turning against Spurs and refusing to play until he was allowed to move. But what if Berbatov was made available for transfer? Should he really be ruled out as a Spurs signing due to his acrimonious manner of departure?
Prior to his move to United Berbatov fit Spurs’ style perfectly – although not the type to always lurk in the box, the creative Bulgarian found ways to make chances for himself and his team-mates and was viewed as an essential part of the Tottenham team. His partnership with Jermain Defoe also looked a good one as the duo combined well. With Robbie Keane now faltering Peter Crouch is the man most Spurs fans want partnering Defoe but the new boy hasn’t had many goals in him yet in his appearances for the club. Berbatov meanwhile has scored goals infrequently for United and many fans have lost patience in him, if Alex Ferguson accepts that his £30 million signing isn’t doing it for the club then he must move on.
Questions as to Berbatov’s price tag would have to be asked; obviously United would want to recoup as much as possible of the transfer fee paid for the Bulgarian. But they’ll also be aware that his market value has gone down a great deal and would probably be willing to agree a substantially lower price. Spurs will have money to spend with Roman Pavlyuchenko, Alan Hutton and David Bentley all likely to leave and have been linked with strikers already but, rather than spending a large fee on an unproven foreigner like Humberto Suazo or Nikola Zigic, would they not be better off signing a player who they know could succeed with them?
It’s not unheard of for clubs to go ahead and sign players regardless of what the fans think of them and often the players play well enough to win the fans over. Berbatov may be despised by most Spurs fans but some good performances back at the club and the hatred may start to subside a bit. Berbatov will always be resented by many due to the way he went about his move but the fans would be unlikely to complain much if he were proving a massive lift to the team and drove them to the top four spot they desperately want.
If he were to return to White Hart Lane you can be sure that Berbatov would be jeered by a number of the fans, and yet accepted by others. Berbatov wasn’t right is forcing a move like he did but if he helps the team then there’s no reason why Spurs fans should not be happy having him back. The worry that he’d come back a worse player like Robbie Keane did after his move to Liverpool would be there but Berbatov would get the chance to prove that theory wrong. It seems highly unlikely that the Bulgarian will return to Spurs any time soon but, if he became available, should Spurs look past their grievances and re-sign him?
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no, his personality stinks and would destroy the dressing room again.
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I’d love him back, he’s been the best player at WHL for years. I also found the contradictions coming from Spurs very suspect, Ramos saying hre’d been a medel professional in training and that it was his decision not to play him because of all the transfer speculation, then when Levy sold him and got lots of flack the story changed
If we have any chance we should bring him back
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ABSOLUTELY NOT.
hes @#~ thinks hes incredible. look at the keane rebuying fiasco – i think weve learnt our lesson!
he wont fit in with this team harry is building, doesnt comply with the work hard ethic on the pitch.
he broke our hearts when those pictures rolled in on sky sports that midnight. let the bastard be savaged by the media and shipped off abroad to rot.
we hate him so because we loved him so.
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With the exception of Defoe (so far), all Spurs players who have returned have been shadows of their former selves: Keane, Chimbonda, Sheringham, Klinsmann. Do not add Berba and Carrick to that list … please. Note – I guess Neil Ruddock was another exception, but that’s going way back…
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His partnership was with keane, Defoe barely played with him, Sort it out
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I do not hate the guy, but i resent how he treated the club, and the fans.I seem to remember, when he was playing, Defoe was on the bench most of the time, hence his decision to move to Portsmouth.Who is going to make way for Berba? I think we are better off without him.
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They say you should never go back in life and apart from Jurgen Klinsmann (my all-time Spurs best), I can’t think of anybody who has been a success on his return – not Keane, Ardiles, Sheringham or any of the others who have come back to the club. As far as Berbatov is concerned, he walk straight back into the team as far as I am concerned if he produced the same performances he gave us last time around but I really don’t believe he could and secondly, we are a very different team now with the current squad and we play with far more pace which wouldn’t suit his style. So sorry Dimitar but I for one am not interested so you can stay where you are.
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It wouldn’t be a great deal for Spurs, and Levy prefers players who have a resale value.
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Dimitar – that’s true but Berba did play with Defoe numerous times when Keane was rested/injured/dropped and they worked well together too, he did well with both strikers.
It’s interesting seeing the mix of opinions on him, he’s clearly got the talent but his sell out was cheap and hurtful
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in my opinion berbatov was superb for us, but im not sure i could accept him bck just because of the pure fact of how he intigated a move to old trafford now….its not going to well for him, cant handle the pressure….getting a receeding hairline BIG time lol. i would rather have carrick back.
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