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?