Fergie won’t give up on Berbatov chase
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says he has not given up the chase for Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov despite watching his side claim their first victory of the season at Portsmouth.
United are being heavily-linked with a move for the wantaway Bulgarian, who was left out of Saturday’s defeat by Sunderland by boss Juande Ramos for “not being in the right frame of mind.”
Spurs are now keen to bring the ongoing saga to an end but are holding out for £30m for the hitman, while United won’t pay any more than £25m. But with only six days of the August transfer window remaining and Spurs awaiting United’s next move, Ferguson is conscious that time is running out.
“There’s only a week and you start to concern yourself, but we’ve shown tonight we’ve got a good quality of player here,” he said after his side’s victory at Fratton Park. “We would like to add but we’ll have to see what happens.”
While United rallied to a deserved first victory of the season, they are undoubtedly missing a striker in the Berbatov mould with duo Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez once again off target.
Instead, Ferguson had to rely on midfielder Darren Fletcher to net his side’s only goal for a second match running – his deflected 32nd-minute strike enough to lift the champions to third in the Premier League table.
Portsmouth started the brighter with Papa Bouba Diop coming close early, but as the game wore on United looked the more likely.
England keeper David James had to keep out Wayne Rooney’s effort and a Paul Scholes free-kick before Fletcher eventually opened the scoring after scrambling home Patrice Evra’s cross via Sol Campbell.
Rooney almost made it 2-0 before the break before Pompey tested United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar through debutant Jerome Thomas and Bouba Diop.
But United comfortably saw the game out leaving Ferguson suitably satisfied. “We played some excellent football tonight,” he added. “This is a difficult place to come, so it is a bonus to come here and win.