Is Berbatov a worse signing than Sheva?
Back in September 2008, when Dimitar Berbatov and Man United CEO David Gill put the finishing touches on a lucrative 4-year contract tying the enigmatic Bulgarian to Old Trafford for the prime years of his career, you would have been an absolute plonker to ask the question. But 14 months is a long time in football. Following a disappointing debut season in the North where he failed to cement a starting place and exhibit the type of skills that made him a cult hero in North London, we’ve got to ask: Is Berbatov’s signing at United up there with the worst ever? Is Berbatov’s signing in danger of becoming even worse than Shevchenko at Chelsea?
Pound for Pound. Transferred at a comparably similar price, Berbatov for £30.75 and Shevchenko for £30.8, Berbatov’s return of 12 goals in 40 league appearances is marginally better than Sheva’s 9 goals in 47 league appearances. Although Sheva spent considerable time on the bench he did manage to bang in 22 goals for the Blues including a cracker against Tottenham in an FA Cup quarter-final replay and the final goal during the Mourinho reign, a delicate snap shot against Rosenborg. Stuck on a measly 17 goals for the Red Devils, Berbatov’s goal to game ratio does not allow him much breathing space if he is going to better the Ukraine striker’s numbers.
Falling Stars. Andrei Shevchenko, the golden child of AC Milan, arrived on English shores a Champions League winner, a Serie A winner and a Ballon D’Or winner. Unfortunately while he was busy packing all his medals, he forgot to bring his boots along. Three years after signing on as the last piece of the jigsaw in Roman Abramovich’s pursuit of the Champions League, Sheva joined former club Dynamo Kiev on a free transfer. Dimitar Berbatov’s demise is less hyperbolic but equally dramatic. Spurs gambled on the Bulgarian hitman from Bayern Leverkusen for £10.8 in 2006 and the highly gifted striker did not disappoint. Berbs’ languid style and unparalleled vision produced a return of 46 goals in 102 Spurs appearances. United came sniffing. Berbs signed on and the goals dried up. Go figure.
Bling. Supposedly given his own seat on the bench (we’re just playing, Sheva), the Ukraine captain did manage to win the FA Cup, the Carling Cup and the Community Shield during his brief stay in West London. In his first season with United, Berbatov piggy-backed Ronaldo’s prolific goal scoring form to win the Premier League and the World Club Cup.
There is no disputing the fact that Andrei Shevchenko’s signing at Chelsea was unsuccessful. While Sheva contemplates winding down his career back home and what might have been in the bright lights of West London, he can rest content knowing he always gave it his best, even if that was no longer good enough. On the other hand no one would ever mistake Berbatov for being a hard worker. And that’s why ultimately, we feel that in this match-up, the Ukrainian trumps the Bulgarian.
Not one of Fergie's better punts
11 Responses to “Is Berbatov a worse signing than Sheva?”
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I am not a manutd fan but I follow all the so-called big fours and the rest 16s. Since past 2-3 years all manutd are doing is feeding cron and they are only relying on the old rusted players. Obviously berba is a lazy and very lazy player but he needs more time and manutd must start offloading oldies – giggs, scholes et al.
Berbo can do everything what he wants with the ball. He is the best player of Man United.
They are both as crap as one another.
Sheva was a complete turkey but Berbatoss is just a lazy useless miserable bag of sh*te!
30 million for Berbatosser, Tottenham Sh*tespur must still be laughing their heads off and partying every night. Manure Utd muppets!
Daariwal, you are an idiot, giggs has been united’s best player this season
It is baffling to me how the writer has managed to get to the position he is in if all of his articles are of a similar content to this. Clearly jumping on the back of the modern day football ‘moral panics’ and cliches (Lampard and Gerrard cant play together, Peter Crouch is good on the ball for a big man) is as easy for some internet writers as it is for some bloke down the pub, who makes arguments which are void of any actual football knowledge or observation.
If you’re going to use the ‘lazy’ card along with your stats, then why not acknowledge that actually, he covered the 4th longest distance for United last season. Besides this, running around like a mad man ala Wayne Rooney/Carlos Tevez is not in Berbatov’s game. Simply put, he doesnt need to. For those of you who use this ‘lazy’ argument (and probably dont watch united very often), Berbatov’s game is about clever touches, creating things no one else in the side would even dream of and more importantly, creating goals. If you’re joining the witch-hunt to create an easy article rather than opening your eyes, thats fine. But to compare Berbatov’s contribution at United to Shevchenko’s at Chelsea is criminal.
The difference is that Berbatov plays a support role whereas Shevchenko is a finisher who offers little else to the team. I don’t know what Berba’s assist ratio is but it’s got to be pretty high in comparison to most frontmen? He could have had 3 more assists in the Bolton game alone if it wasn’t for Owen being unable to finish.
For £30m+ he looks hugely overpriced but he isn’t useless like 5 or 6 of the strikers Chelsea have signed since Roman arrived.
It’s not really fair to scapegoat him on last sunday for example when the rest of the team was just as useless. What about Rooney who hardly had a touch, all he really did for 90 minutes was shout at the referee.
Blaming Berba just misses Man Utd’s main problem which is an incredibly weak and immobile central midfield. It’s not top-4 quality when Fletcher isn’t there. It’s not even top-10 quality.
[...] Who was the more colossal waste of money…The Continental or Sheva? [Footy Factor] [...]
Even just thinking up this comparison shows a lack of knowledge about football. Completing an article on such unfounded drivel is bewildering to me.
Oli is absolutely correct in his comment.
[...] Manchester United’s record with Dimitar Berbatov in the starting eleven is 34 points from 13 games. Their record without him is 13 points from nine games. That’s 2.6 points per game with compared to 1.44 points per game without. So much for us slagging off Berba. [...]
[...] Manchester United’s record with Dimitar Berbatov in the starting eleven is 34 points from 13 games. Their record without him is 13 points from nine games. That’s 2.6 points per game with, compared to 1.44 points per game without. So much for us slagging off Berba. [...]