Dimitar Berbatov was pushing through a move to Manchester United late Monday after his acrimonious fallout with Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs had not wanted to sell Berbatov and made an official complaint about its English Premier League rival's conduct, but the Bulgaria striker was at Old Trafford trying to close the transfer with United manager Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill before the transfer window closed at midnight local time (2300GMT).
In a dramatic twist earlier Monday, Manchester City made a 25-million-pound (US$45 million; €31 million) bid to hijack its crosstown rival's long-running pursuit of Berbatov.
The audacious bid came hours after City agreed to a takeover by a United Arab Emirates business group, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment.
Berbatov, who joined Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 in a four-year deal, scored 23 goals in 52 appearances last season, including a penalty kick in Spurs' 2-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup final.
Berbatov has been omitted from the Spurs team this season by manager Juande Ramos as he's held out for a transfer.
Spurs have been driving a hard bargain with the Red Devils on a deal and complained to the Premier League in July about their "disgraceful" attempts to lure Berbatov to Old Trafford.
United has been trying to buy Berbatov for more than a year in breach of Premier League rules, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said in July. |
發表於 2008-9-2 06:47 AM
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