Berbatov to take United to new level

Daniel Tayloron the extra firepower Dimitar Berbatov brings to an already potent strike force

DIMITAR BERBATOV has not had long to impress his team-mates but he announced himself in training yesterday with a moment that demonstrated why Alex Ferguson regards the idea of retirement, and leaving his team of champions to another manager, as a personal affront.

It was an instinctive volley, with minimum backlift, spearing a shot into the top corner of Edwin van der Sar's goal and drawing applause from his new colleagues.

"He is a Manchester United-type player," Ryan Giggs confirmed. "For a big man he has a superb touch."

The real business starts today when Berbatov is thrown into the bearpit that is Anfield whenever Manchester United are in town. How Ferguson plans to accommodate him in the same team as Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez remains to be seen and, in a few weeks, the United manager will also have to devise a way to shoehorn Cristiano Ronaldo into the side as well. But if there is one Ferguson quality that should never be overlooked, it is his bold instinct and sense for the dramatic.

"I don't know how Alex is going to get all these players into the same team but he will," says Carlos Queiroz, Ferguson's former assistant and now the Portugal manager.

"Berbatov will play a lot of games this season. I know that. I think Alex will play Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov all in the same team, I really do. And if this system functions as he hopes it will, it will make Manchester United's the most dangerous attack in all the world."

It is a prospect that should induce trepidation among all of United's rivals. Last season, Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney managed 79 goals between them. Ronaldo cannot be expected to score 42 goals again, but Ferguson is already calculating how many goals his quartet of attackers can accumulate this season. "I have always said Rooney is capable of goals," said the United manager. "Tevez is capable of 20 goals, Dimitar is capable of that, Cristiano is capable of that. If Wayne does it too, add that together and you're talking about a fantastic amount of goals - enough, definitely, to win trophies."

Ferguson does not always get it right when it comes to strikers and, astonishingly, once said that he had been put off trying to sign Fernando Torres because he did not think the Spaniard was composed enough in front of goal.

When it comes to Berbatov, however, it is difficult to fault his belief that Berbatov will take the European Cup winners to an even greater level of excellence.

"If you look at our other strikers, they are all very young," says Ferguson. "Carlos is the oldest, but he's only 23. So Dimitar gives us extra experience and composure.

"His balance and vision are excellent, his goal ratio is very good. He has a physical presence that we have not had for a long time, probably since Teddy Sheringham and Eric Cantona. Plus he's a big-game player too. We're delighted with his acquisition. It's a big, big step for Manchester United."

As everyone who watched Sky's hysteria-fest will know, the deal was not concluded until five minutes before the midnight cut-off on transfer deadline day, bringing an end to one of the most protracted transfer sagas of the summer. Yet Ferguson's initial interest in Berbatov can be traced a good deal further back, to when he played against United for Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League in 2002.

"Berbatov was always on the list of possible players that we wanted to bring to United," says Queiroz. "He was on it for about five years and, to be honest, he was always pretty much at the top. We were offered him on occasions but always when we had other players in that position. But he was always on our mind and never forgotten. Alex and myself talked about him a lot and Alex would rave about him."

The comparisons with Cantona are not exactly original but probably inevitable given the way that Berbatov can seem in utter control of the ball and has a brooding side to his personality that led Paul McGrath to use his column in the Birmingham Mail to describe him as a "brat".

Yet Cantona, despite his public image, was very much "one of the lads" at Old Trafford and Giggs, for one, has already taken to his new team-mate: "He has that physique and stature. He is over six feet tall and he offers something a little bit different to Wayne Rooney or Carlos Tevez."

Queiroz does not go for the "new Cantona" line. "For me, he's the new Ruud van Nistelrooy. He is a killer in the penalty area. But he is not one of those strikers who is really selfish. He is quick, but there is more to him than that. He is intelligent, a cerebral player. He is a good team player and Alex particularly likes that. He will bring other players into the game. He will occupy defenders and ensure they have to work enormously hard. That will be a huge help to other United players like Rooney and Tevez, who can then come in and exploit those gaps.

"His signing will make this team even better and, when you consider what they won last year, that makes it a brilliant future for Manchester United."

Guardian Service