Berbatov move caps summer of record spending
Manchester United's new striker Dimitar Berbatov poses with his new jersey during a news conference in the Bulgarian capital Sofia yesterday
Wednesday September 03 2008
The Arab investment at Eastlands may change the transfer market forever but there were hardly deflationary pressures in the "old" system as Monday's late-night dealings took the total spend this summer to a record £500m, writes Ian Herbert.
Alex Ferguson was revelling in a four-year deal for a player -- Dimitar Berbatov -- whom he has also been pursuing for two years. "We tried to get him when he was at Bayer Leverkusen, but we only had a few days to get the deal done," Ferguson said of his £30.75m buy.
"I've handled expectation and pressure throughout my life -- I'm not scared of that," Berbatov said yesterday, "that's why I'm here. I hope my peak years are still to come; I'm 27 and now is my time.
"This is perhaps the last club in my career and the biggest club in the world."
Spurs had been the busiest Premier League club, completing the signing of £14m Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Croatia right-back Vedran Corluka from City. Liverpool -- the fifth highest spenders with a net outlay of £18m -- captured Spain winger Albert Riera from Espanyol for an undisclosed fee.
But the surprise move of the last day was Everton's club record £15m purchase of Standard Liege's Marouane Felliani.
