Dimitar Berbatov Needs To Step It Up

Goodbye Ronaldo. Get lost Tevez. Good luck Ribery and Benzema. Hello Michael Owen!   

Sir Alex's list of strikers, real and imagined, has dwindled by the week. If the Red tops are to be believed, United has been left with little choice but to chase a motley crew of sloppy seconds.

Enter Michael Owen on a free transfer, a player who could offer no meaningful contribution to Newcastle's vain struggle against relegation.

"Even if such a deal actually makes a lot of sense, it is unlikely to appease fans desperate to see Sir Alex Ferguson ease the sense of loss caused by the departure of the world's best player," the Mail ventured.

"If Owen passes a stringent medical, it could turn out to be a sensational piece of business: a player still the right side of 30 and prepared, in this era of massive transfer fees and enormous wages, to sign for buttons."

The Guardian informed its readers that "Owen scored 30 times in 65 starts for Newcastle, but  cost them £41m in total when putting together his wages and his transfer fee."

Owen will join United if he passes a medical examination on Friday, 3 July. The proposed deal may impress the Glazer inner-circle, consumed by a desperate need to make savings, but it guarantees indigestion among fans that see Liverpool and Arsenal strengthening and note Manchester City's loadsamoney bid to crash the big-four annual party.

With the press poised to morph gloom into doom, could there be a better time for Dimitar Berbatov to remind fans of his brilliance?

To loud cheers, Sir Alex snatched the Spurs forward from under Manchester City's noses for a staggering near £31 million fee. It was the transfer coup of the summer. Here was the new Cantona, a smart player with a deft touch and sublime skills who would bring out the best in Rooney and  Ronaldo and fire United to more silverware.

The pairing of Berbatov with the champions looked a better match than Hollywood's 'Brangelina.'

"We tried to get him when he was at Bayer Leverkusen," purred Sir Alex last September.  "Now we've managed to get him. It's cost us a bit more money but he's worth it."

Meanwhile "Mitko," as his mother always calls him, was blowing kisses in the direction of his new manager.

"I've handled expectation and pressure throughout my life—I'm not scared of that," he assured the Sun newspaper. "That's why I'm here."

"I feel I can develop in the way I've always wanted. The most important thing is to enjoy myself, help the team win more trophies and to thank the fans."

"If I do that and show what I can do like I did at Tottenham, I don't think they'll be any problems."

Alas, there were problems. Many of them.

United went to Anfield for the season's first glamour match. Berbatov was instrumental as United took an early lead and looked worthy of all their preseason hype.

The Bulgarian faded in the second half. So did his teammates as Liverpool rallied to score a famous victory. The doubts about Berbatov's fitness, industry, and big match temperament began in earnest.

United then visited Stamford Bridge for another crucial summit meeting. Different match, same scenario. Berbatov started brightly and then collapsed into listlessness as United slumped to a draw.

By the year's end,  just three months after his flash-gun popping arrival, Berbatov was considered a dud. Ferguson found himself called upon to defend his expensive recruit.

"I am delighted with the way things are going and I am especially pleased by Dimitar's progress in settling into the team," a belligerent Ferguson told the Sun newspaper. "I have the feeling that we are about to see the best of Berbatov."

The manager's comments were received as so much hubris.

"Dimitar's stats are incredible," Sir Alex told Mirror readers. "He did more running against Middlesbrough last week than any of the front players—including Rooney."

"He did more yards, more than almost all of the players. So Berbatov is getting involved a lot, but where we want him, of course, is in the last third, in the box that is where he can be a real threat."

A discussion of Berbatov's running power was not what United's legion of fans had in mind when the Bulgarian moved down from north London. Goals, goals, goals were written into the Berbatov promissory note. After all, this was the scorer-playmaker supreme United had chased for two years.

Nothing could defuse the mounting dissatisfaction, not even a crucial goal away at Bolton, nor the breath-taking demonstration of virtuosity with which Berbatov  bamboozled a West Ham defender to create the opening goal in United's routine home win over the east London side.

Media critics rushed into print to dismiss the player as lazy, lacking the pace and work-rate to contribute effectively to a team built to counter-attack at speed. There were concerns that Berbatov failed to influence games with the authority of a £30 million-plus player and couldn't play with Rooney.

The irascible and often unreasonable ex-United boss Tommy Docherty seemed, at last, to speak for many when he described Berbatov as an "absolute disaster." Docherty observed that the Bulgarian "doesn't seem interested" and "should look at Carlos Tevez and see the way he always grafts to win the ball back."

Ferguson continued to offer Berbatov his pubic support but the manager's true feelings were revealed in his team selections. As United hit the business end of the season, Berbatov was moved to the sidelines.

It was a humiliating retreat by a proud manager, seized upon by the nation's fourth estate after Berbatov's dismal missed penalty in a FA Cup semifinal against Everton.

Writing in the Guardian, Daniel Taylor reflected on "the virtual disappearance of a player who was signed, lest it be forgotten, on the basis of Ferguson's unrelenting and almost obsessive belief that he would elevate the European champions to a new tier of greatness."

Taylor's prose was a prelude to a comprehensive destruction of Berbatov's right to be considered a champion footballer.

"Ferguson, is not even willing to accept his £30.75m signing, the scorer of 23 goals for Tottenham Hotspur last season, has taken a backward turn," Taylor continued.

"The lesson of history is that Ferguson will publicly defend his players even when it is blindingly obvious that something has not quite clicked. Berbatov has scored 13 goals in 36 games, including four appearances as a substitute.

"His partnership with Wayne Rooney has yielded a solitary goal all season, and that was back in October. Then take into account that Berbatov's four goals in the Champions League all came in autumn against poor opposition—two against Aalborg and two against Celtic—and it becomes a little clearer why some Old ­Trafford fans have started to question whether the 28-year-old will come to be thought of in the same way as Juan Sebastián Verón."

There it was, the dreaded 'V' word. Not for the first time, Berbatov was compared unfavourably to United's last high priced disaster Juan Veron, a midfielder who rarely justified during his Manchester sojourn his billing as a world great.

The Bulgarian, seemingly taken aback by the welter of criticism, sought to convince his detractors.

"I like to play at the front but I also like to play further back sometimes, to play with the ball, to be the man who creates the attack," Berbatov told the Sun newspaper. "Occasionally, I even prefer to make assists rather than to score goals."

"That makes me enjoy myself, making the game with my passes and my vision."

Few of Berbatov's critics were impressed. To them, the player was a toxic asset. Even Sir Alex turned a deaf ear to his forward's pleas, refusing to select the Bulgarian in the Champions League semi-final and final.

United's humiliating Champions League loss to Barcelona, the departure of Ronaldo, and Tevez and the arrival of the injury prone Owen now present Berbatov with a priceless opportunity to redeem his status.

Surely, the Bulgarian's recruitment was influenced by the probable loss of the celebrated Portuguese winger and the Argentine forward. The United fan base now awaits evidence of Fergie's master plan.

Soon, the manager will reveal his hand and there can be no excuses this time. Berbatov now knows his teammates. He will benefit from a full preseason of conditioning and training. In Ronaldo's absence, Sir Alex will need his big players to steady nerves by showing their quality.

Berbatov will hope to be counted in such company. He must stay free of the minor injuries that blighted his first season.

The Bulgarian will need to show he can play and score goals alongside Rooney. Above all, Berbatov will need to step up and demonstrate that his undoubted ability is not lost amid the high pressure and high stakes of Old Trafford.

Last September, after his transfer to the champions was completed, a satisfied Berbatov outlined his ambitions.

"I hope my peak years are still to come," he said. "I'm 27 years old and now is my time."

United fans will pray that finally, Berbatov's time has come.