The Curious Case of Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov has been a lost cause throughout his career with Manchester United , from achieving the feat of scoring 5 goals in a single game to completely under-performing , his career at united has been a roller coaster mostly going down hill . A player of his caliber is still struggling to solidify his place in the first team , he has never been a fan favorite at Old Trafford and now is the second choice striker behind hernandez , that itself tells the whole story .

"Dimistar" Berbatov .. gimme five ….

The Bulgarian joined Manchester United from Tottenham on 1st September 2008 for a transfer fee of 30.75 million Euros .The golden boot winner’s style of play has been described as calm , gentle and very composed contradictory to the likes of rooney and hernandez who like to approach the game with more intensity and vigor, which has always been a point of debate. This has been a major disadvantage for him in the EPL where the game is pacy and fast . Though he has adapted very well , at times he is left behind in the pack which can be very frustrating. He got off to a great start at United, assisting tevez brilliantly on his debut despite united losing the match to their bitter rivals liverpool 2-1. However failed to establish himself completely in his first season only scoring now and then and showing no consistency whatsoever . In his first season the bulgarian managed to score a mere 14 goals in his 43 appearances for the club which doesn’t justify his price tag , as a consequence he has been a subject of much speculation and criticism .

He further failed to impress the manager and the fans in his second season scoring 12 goals in his 43 appearances , less than what he managed to score in his first season . This led to rumors that he was linked with a move away from OT , but Ferguson still had faith in him and dint want to let go the 30.75million striker . Ferguson’s faith finally paid off in the 2010-2011 season , the former Bulgarian International scored a stunning 7 goals in his first 6 matches of the season , including his first hat-trick against Liverpool in the league , he seemed to be on an excellent form. He failed to further impress the old Trafford faithful as he went on a goal scoring drought for the next 10 matches , then came the moment of magic as he blasted 5 goals past a helpless Blackburn side only the third person to achieve such a feat after Alan Shearer of Newcastle United and Andrew Cole of Manchester United. His second Hat-trick of the season came against Birmingham in the league , united winning the fixture 5-0 , in the consecutive fixture he scored two very important goals inspiring United to a victory from 2 goals down in the first half . The rest of his season has been a disaster scoring only 2 goals in 16 games , he has not been clinical enough which costed him dearly . Even in his last premier league game against Blackpool he failed to score a single goal which would have secured the golden boot award , spurning a handful of wonderful chances.

Berbatov has cut a frustrated figure " many a time " …

It would have not been even possible for united to win the league without his huge share of goals , but still there is speculation whether he will stay at OT after his contract expires next year . The major reason for this has been his inconsistency , and inability to perform in tough fixtures at times , his finishing also has not been at its finest as he tends to spurn too many chances which can be quite frustrating and at this level of competition one has to make the most of his chances.