Dimitar Berbatov has admitted in an interview with talkSPORT that he wasn’t too impressed upon learning that he was a target for Tottenham.
Spurs signed the Bulgarian striker from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006, but at the time Berbatov felt his form was worthy of more illustrious interest.
Berbatov would eventually get his wish when he forced through a move to Manchester United, after scoring 46 goals across two seasons for Spurs.
MORE: Dimitar Berbatov’s Greatest Tottenham Goals [Video]
He told talkSPORT’s ‘Up Front With’ series: “I was like, ‘wait a minute, Spurs want me? What? Not Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United?’
“I was thinking all these stupid questions because I was thinking I was doing so well that a big team must come after me.
“When you’re young, you think you know everything. You think you have all the answers to all the questions, but you have nothing.”
Hearing a player be dismissive of Spurs, as though we were below their level, might hurt if it wasn’t true. Berba was a class above from the moment he put the shirt on, and we were lucky to get arguably his two peak years.
And this braggadocious way is all part of Berba’s charm.
He is who Zlatan Ibrahimovic wants to be. Only he’s likeable (now we’ve had over a decade to let the wounds heal).
So what his Berba’s mind? Meeting Martin Jol…
“In the end, their persistence was a big factor for me, and of course, meeting Martin Jol was the moment I knew I had to go there,” he added.
“He’s sitting in the chair like the Godfather! “He was like ‘Berba, welcome my boy!’ I was telling myself, ‘this is the right place’ purely because sometimes you just feel the connection with someone, I don’t know how to explain it.
“Secondly, because Martin looked like my late granddad, who I loved to death. I was thinking to myself ‘I think we are going to have something here.’”
Berbs was top class for us. When he did force his move to united he wasn’t half the player. Strange one.