AUDERE EST FACERE: Berbatov Chose Spurs Over Old Trafford
Been a while since we seen a convincing headline like that but on the back of an exciting run to UEFA Cup qualification (I refuse to look at this as sloppy seconds anymore, it’s a stepping stone to the Champion’s League and a damn fine European tour for the travel starved loyal Spurs fans) it’s one we may be seeing a bit more of.
I’ll admit I’m not too clued up on either Bulgarian football or too much on the Bundesliga but Dimitar Berbatov is joining Spurs with a great goalscoring record in a proper European league (no more Rebrov easy goals for Kiev type stats) and he seems to have the mentality and all round game to make him a great hit in the Premiership. ?10.9m is a lot of money for thrifty Danny Levy and the board to be throwing down on one Eastern European player, especially after the last regime got burnt so badly on the aforementioned “Ridgeley” Rebrov, but Damien Comolli and Martin Jol seem convinved of his pedigree and that’s good enough for me.
Berbatov has been speaking out himself and it’s heartening news so far:
“I had a meeting with a representative of Manchester United and he told me that they have been following me for a while.
“But Tottenham showed me clearly how much they want me there and United wasn’t really convincing.”
“I’m happy that I will play in a club with high ambitions. There were people from Tottenham watching me playing for a while but I was watching them too and I really like the way they play.
“The team tries to play beautiful football, which I like very much, and the manager is exceptional. The players have great respect for Mr Jol and all he wants is for his team to play beautiful football.”
“I think I’ll adapt fast because I know the language well.”
Keep telling us how you turned the Mancs down, score against the Goons and lead us to the Champion’s League next season and with a little beautiful football along the way, I think you and me will get along just fine Dimitar.
About the author Alan Hylands
Alan is both a former SOTG editor and former World Soccer editor at the New York Times Company. Football-wise, he wishes he was a younger lovechild of Glenn Hoddle and Diego Maradona (not the short, fat, cokehead, religious nut bit obviously...)
Follow me on Twitter: sotgfootball
I think Spurs fans should be more than happy competing in the UEFA Cup next season. With a fairly young and inexperienced squad (potentially like Liverpool five years ago), and the addition of some new talent (know nothing about Berbatov, but who knows?) a UEFA Cup run could prove to be the platform needed for further improvements.
Also, Spurs should have a good chance of clinching the trophy (on paper a much better chance than Boro had this season), and with Italian football in a state of chaos and French and German teams failing to show again this year, it should only be when facing a Spanish team that Spurs should be that worried (or knowing the Yids some Swiss team, where is Christian Gross these days?).