Gossip: United To Offer £39 Million For Dimi …
Sun: MANCHESTER UNITED are planning to table a massive offer of £27.5million plus Louis Saha for Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbatov.
On the day Owen Hargreaves completed his Old Trafford medical, the Reds were set to launch an incredible move worth £39m.
United hope they can persuade Spurs to release their star man by offering £11.5m-rated Saha plus the huge cash sum.
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Sun: Spurs paid Bayer Leverkusen £10.9m for the Bulgarian international last summer.
Yesterday, Berbatov’s agent Emil Dantchev refused to confirm the player would be at White Hart Lane next season.
Dantchev said: “In football you do not know what will happen tomorrow.”
Spurs are trying to get Berbatov to sign a new six-year contract, doubling his £22,000-a-week deal. United could more than treble it to £70,000 a week.
Berbatov, 26, was a sensation in his first Premiership season, hitting 23 goals and winning rave reviews.
He also has 26 goals in 44 games for Bulgaria.
Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo hit 46 between them for United but boss Alex Ferguson believes Berbatov would be the ideal frontman for the pair to play off.
Hargreaves has played for Bayern Munich against Berbatov in the Bundesliga.
He said: “This season Berbatov has been a breath of fresh air in English football, he just makes the game look so easy at times.”
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SPURS boss Martin Jol has won the race to snap up Southampton superkid Gareth Bale.
Wales left-back Bale, 17, will sign at White Hart Lane within 48 hours.
Jol beat off competition from Manchester United and Arsenal to capture the Saints starlet in a deal worth £8million plus add-ons.
Bale’s Welsh team-mate Ryan Giggs was trying to persuade the youngster to move to Old Trafford.
But Jol has sweet-talked the defender into joining Spurs, where he will become an immediate first-team squad member instead of waiting in the wings at United.
Bale will bolster a Tottenham defence that conceded 54 Premiership goals this season.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Young-Pyo Lee and Ricardo Rocha had spells at left-back but none of them impressed.
Jol knows he has to address the problem and Bale’s attacking instincts also suit the manager.
Saints chief George Burley wanted to keep Bale for another year to ensure he gets regular first-team football.
Bale’s former Saints room-mate, Theo Walcott, has seen his chances limited since joining Arsenal.
But the Welsh teenager would not suffer the same fate at White Hart Lane.
Bale’s Wales team-mate James Collins is convinced the kid will make it.
West Ham defender Collins, 23, said: “It’s a tough jump from the Championship to the Premiership but I’m sure Gareth will relish it because he is just world-class.”
