Monday, August 25, 2008

Wither Berbatov? Arshavin? Huntelaar?

Oliver Kay at the Times of London reports the Dimitar Berbatov will sign with Manchester United within days. United apparently re-opened negotiations with the Tottenham star and the magic number is now 25M pounds, after 20.5M had been rejected. The teams have until Aug. 31 to come to terms before the current transfer window closes.

Finally there may be an end to this novela. Tottenham boss Juande Ramos left Berbatov on the bench this weekend because he was psychologically unfit to play, and Tottenham fans flipped after Sunderland came to White Hart Lane and won 2-1.

Berbatov will play up front Old Trafford with Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney. But who steps in at Tottenham? And why, 25M pounds notwithstanding, would Tottenham let him go without a viable replacement.

Zenit St. Petersburg, apparently still in the afterglow of its UEFA Cup win, won't part with Andrei Arshavin after talking serious numbers in the neighborhood of 20M pounds. Dutch scorer Huntelaar is also reportedly in the mix for the Tottenham post. Coach Dick Advocaat, however, says the saga is wearing on his team as well, that Arshavin's head wasn't in the game this weekend as Zenit lost 3-1 to Shinnik Yaroslav.

"He's constantly wondering if they'll let him go or not,'' Advocaat said. ''He's waiting by his phone for calls from his agent.''

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