The Curious Case of Dimitar Berbatov

He doesn’t show enough commitment to the team… He’s lazy… He’s too slow on the pitch… He doesn’t care about the team… He’s an introvert… Every catcall in the book has been heard about Manchester United’s enigmatic no.9. For a man who’s 18 months at Old Trafford have evoked such extreme reviews, Dimitar Berbatov’s Manchester United career started off on a brilliant note. The cross from near the goal line to setup Carlos Tevez for United’s first and only goal at Anfield in their 2-1 loss to Liverpool announced his arrival louder than his $30 million price tag. The deft tricks and stunning touches that had held the World in awe during his spell at White Hart Lane were expected to take Old Trafford by storm. It was supposed to be a dream combination. Wazza with his marauding, lung-bursting runs and Berba with his classic flicks and touches. 6 months later, the knives were out and the catcalls had started. The crowd was clearly not impressed with the Bulgarian’s nonchalance. The people who mattered, to their credit, made the right moves though. Sir Alex Ferguson, in spite of the presence of Carlos Tevez, continued to persist with Berbatov and Berbatov on his part, continued to put in his best.
True, he doesn’t have Ronaldo’s bag of tricks or Rooney’s level of involvement in the game or Darren Fletcher and Ji Sung Park’s work rate and this is what the fans love to watch but Berbatov has quietly gone about doing what he does best, pulling the strings from ‘the hole’. He’s a peculiar kind of player, he drops in behind the lone man and sets up attack after attack. He’s a master at reading the opposition’s defence and picking passes through them. Now it’s easy to see a Xavi Alonso or a Francesc Fabregas in this kind of a role in central midfield but Berbatov, labelled a striker, has been doing just that. Can you call him an out and out striker? Nope. He’s too slow for that simply doesn’t score enough goals. Can you call him an attacking midfielder of the Kaka, Wesley Sneijder type? Not really. The trickery is missing. Can you call him a midfield playmaker? No way! He plays too high up for that and doesn’t really drop back to help the defence. And he’s labelled a striker.
At a club like United where 20 goals per season are a pre requisite for a first choice striker, his lack of goals was always going to be a problem. Let’s face it, the guys who donned the striker role before him had an insatiable lust for goals. There was Ruud van Nistelrooy with a goals per game ratio that won’t be beaten in a few decades. There was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there’ll never be a man like the baby faced assassin again. There were Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke before them and more recently, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Now Berbatov will never be mentioned in the same breath as these names when it comes to pure goal scoring instinct. So it was only natural that the crowd would run out of patience with him soon. Not that they don’t like anyone other than the most absurdly talented bunch of players named above. Lesser talented men like Park Ji Sung have become Old Trafford favourites simply because of their sheer determination and work rate. Any United fan would swear by his life that Park would die trying rather than give up. And they adore him for that. Now why don’t they like Berbatov the way they like Park? It’s the man’s demeanour. He’s emotionless, he doesn’t show commitment, the whole list of catcalls start all over again. Now, the fans seeing only the visible side of Berbatov and the club seeing only his visible side are two entirely different issues. Surely, a man of Sir Alex Ferguson’s experience would’ve known what Berbatov was all about before getting on Juande Ramos’ nerves and stretching them right to the limit before landing his striker on transfer deadline day. And amidst all the calls to drop Berba and play Tevez, Sir Alex would surely have known the value of the man he was being urged to axe. True, he stuck it out with Berba and gave him enough chances though it led to the eventual transfer of Carlos Tevez.
Now into his second season at Old Trafford, where does all this leave Berbatov? First choice striker alongside Wayne Rooney. But then, with Michael Owen as the backup striker and the other options being the untested Mame Biram Diouf and teenagers Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda, you would expect Berbatov to be Rooney’s undisputed strike partner. But is he really? A comparison of the number of games played by United no.9 and 10 say an entirely different story. Rooney has not just emerged from Ronaldo’s shadow, he’s grown into a talisman, he’s Mr.United. The best striker in the World at the moment (ok Blaugrana, I’m a United fan). And Berbatov, has shrunk in comparison. A look at the contributions of support strikers in the big teams across Europe show Berbatov is not Rooney’s partner but backup. Chelsea: Nicolas Anelka has played every match against the top 5-6 clubs in the EPL and in the Champion’s League. Liverpool and Arsenal: They always play the lone man up front to pack up the midfield but in Arsenal’s case, either Nicklas Bendtner or Eduardo partnered Robin Van Persie in attack on most occasions before the Dutch hitman pulled up for the season. Barcelona: La Liga, Copa Del Ray, Champions League, whatever be the tournament, Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut rumbles on without compromising on 3 men up front. It’s only a question of whether to play Thierry Henry or Pedro Rodriguez. And that’s more of a transition than anything else.Real Madrid: Apart from El Ron, they always Raul or Benzema alongside Higuain. Rarely is it Ronaldo and Higuain alone. Atletico: Aguero, Forlan and 9 others. Every match, every tournament. Inter Milan: Jose Mourinho’s carefully assembled outfit rolls with an intimidating striking line up of Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev and Wesley Sneijder these days. It’s the same line up whether they’re playing Catania or Chelsea. AC Milan: For all the talk about Leonardo’s team being packed with pensioners, they continue to play an attacking brand of football with Pato, Ronaldinho and either Huntelaar or Boriello playing up front. And the number of strikers didn’t drop even when facing United at Old Trafford (That they got walloped is for another day).Bayern Munich: Two of Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose and Thomas Muller line up every match.And United? Rooney and Berbatov against Blackburn, Hull, Wolves, Portsmouth, Wolfsburg and Sunderland. Rooney all alone against Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, CSKA Moscow, AC Milan, Manchester City, Everton and Aston Villa. If a player, after moving to a top club for a record transfer fee, doesn’t get to play the matches that really define a top club, was it really worth moving in the first place? Would Berbatov feel more happy sitting on the bench in all the Champions League knock out round matches, play 20 minutes a match and pick up a Champions League winners’ medal? Or would he have been better off staying at White Hart Lane as Spurs’ frontline striker, play every match of the season, compete for a top four finish, lead his team to the Champions League and line up against the likes of Ronaldo, Messi and Pato? Needless to say, he would’ve been Harry Redknapp’s first name on the team list if he had stayed at Spurs. A lot of strikers have moved in and out of White Hart Lane after Berbatov but one can safely assume that he would’ve been partnering Jermain Defoe up front in every match, had he stayed there. Looking at the way things are turning out for Spurs this season, they’re primed for a top four finish, meaning Champions League football next season. Jermain Defoe will line up next to Peter Crouch or Roman Pavlyuchenko against the best of Europe while Berbatov will warm the bench and watch Rooney play all alone. With Sir Alex Ferguson repeating it often these days that the 80 million pounds received for Ronaldo’s transfer is burning a hole in his wallet, it might well be the case that a certain big name striker from Valencia might find his way to Old Trafford. And that, would effectively mean the end of Berbatov’s stay at United. But even if there is no significant addition of strikers to United’s roster next season, is the no.9 jersey and a spot on the bench in the big games, really worth it for Berbatov? It’s going to be an interesting phase from now till the end of the end of the summer transfer window for United and Berbatov. Whether it’s a window of opportunity for Berbatov or a window to splash in for United, remains to be seen.