Dimitar Berbatov: The Enigmatic Bulgarian, Deciphered

Is Dimitar Berbatov on steroids this season? Is he taking performance-enhancing drugs? Maybe it is somebody else in disguise? Four matches, three goals (if you include the goal in the Community Shield), and the Bulgarian is off to a flyer this season, and those stats do not convey the complete story.

Paul Scholes may have been garnering the headlines for his performances, but the story of this season for United's supporters have been the displays of the enigmatic Bulgarian. A series of superb showings by United's record signing, both in preseason as well as in the league matches, has shown that Sir Alex Ferguson's faith in him has not been misplaced.

Berbatov is looking sharper, hungrier, quicker, even more dogged than he has ever looked in a United shirt. He is running around, chasing down 50-50 balls, tracking back, making an effort wherever he can. But more importantly, he is being lethal, both as a scorer and a provider of goals.

Teams crave one creative outlet at best. United, when on song, now have two. One is the ageless Scholes. The other is Berbatov, and whenever he has turned on the magic, the results have been exquisite. There is no other example better than the match against West Ham this weekend, at Old Trafford.

While Scholes was getting into his stride, Berbatov had hit the pitch running. He was already starting the magic show, and United would have opened the scoring quite soon if not for poor finishing. His quick one-two with Rooney to allow the Englishman to take a shot at the West Ham goal as early as the fifth minute was just a sign of things to come.

Magic again happened sometime later when United could have scored a true one-two-three goal. Vidic's diagonal long ball was back-heeled into Nani's path with a single touch by Berbatov, and if Robert Green in the West Ham goal had been up to his usual antics, it would have been a spectacular goal. Unfortunately, the English international pushed the shot onto the crossbar and out to safety. 

Such touches and lay-offs became so common during the match that it became routine. Berbatov was doing almost everything except scoring, but he duly did that at the end of a flowing United move which had been conspicuous by its absence last season.

I have said before that Berbatov cannot score a simple goal. It has to be dramatic, attention-grabbing, evidence of an artist at work, and so this was one. A beautiful, floated cross from Nani along the six-yard line arrived at the back post to find the Bulgarian unmarked, with the Hammers' defense and goalkeeper scrambling back. Anybody else would have headed the ball towards goal, but then, Berbatov is not anybody.

The Bulgarian scored via a horizontal scissor kick, one which rose enough to beat a defender as well as the goalkeeper. A moment of pure, unadulterated class and undeniable talent from the man widely regarded as one of the best players in the Premiership, bar none.

And that was the moment which immediately underlined the difference between this season and the previous one for the Bulgarian. Last season, the same shot would have ballooned off into the crowd, or at best, it would have gotten miskicked into the ground.

It emphasized the point that Berbatov is finally comfortable and confident in the high-demands setting of Old Trafford. What seems to have especially helped him is United's return to the 4-4-2 formation, a setup he has always played and excelled in, and one which he never found at United, yet, due to the talents of first Cristiano Ronaldo, and then Wayne Rooney.

If the season progresses the way it has worked out till now for Berbatov, no one would be surprised to see him get a better contract rather than a transfer away from the team the forward has described as his dream and the place where he would want to retire.

He would do well to follow in the footsteps of another languid, stylish player who called curtains on his career at Old Trafford, too. He had sparked United's current dominance in the 1990s. One year at United, and the legend's name is Eric Cantona. Dimitar Berbatov may well have a lot more, on current showing, and engrave his name in the Red Devils' folklore.