It is not often that a club's top scorer is left out of the starting lineup and not even listed as a substitute for his club's biggest game of the season, but that is exactly what happened today in UEFA Champions League Final for Dimitar Berbatov of Manchester United.
Once news broke about the who was in the lineup at Wembley against Barcelona, rumors began to swirl that Berbatov, who was not listed even as a substitute, left Wembley and set up a meeting with Tottenham Hotspur officials.
The Bulgarian forward played at Tottenham for two seasons before moving to Old Trafford to start the 2008-09 season and has fallen out of favor with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, partly due to the emergence of Javier Hernandez as a capable partner up front with Wayne Rooney.
Berbatov scored twenty goals this season, with most of the goals in the first half of the season and only three after February 1st.
After February 1st, Berbatov started only nine games in all competitions, compared to Hernandez's fourteen starts. Also, the Bulgarian forward was used as an unused substitute in four big games.
Those four games in which Berbatov was not used, the FA Cup match with Arsenal, the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against Marseille, the second leg against Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals, and the match against Chelsea at Old Trafford on May 8th, were all games in which Ferguson decided to start Hernandez over Berbatov.
With the lack of big game playing time combined with the breakout of Hernandez and the willingness of Ferguson to bring in new players in the summer transfer window, Berbatov could be headed out of Old Trafford.
The most logical option at the early stage of the transfer season is Tottenham. Berbatov had success at White Hart Lane in his two years there, where he had 46 total goals in all competitions.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is looking for someone to bolster his attack options up front and Berbatov could be a perfect fit to accompany Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch up front with another possible forward coming in to White Hart Lane if Roman Pavlyuchenko is moved.
Whether or not Berbatov has played his last game at Manchester United is still to be seen, but do not be shocked if the Bulgarian's name is mentioned more this summer, especially after what happened at Wembley today.
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