Berbatov reborn after adding labour to love of deft touches
-
Dimitar Berbatov's display against Everton removed all doubt about his appetite and mental toughness. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images
There are still times in games when Dimitar Berbatov looks as if he might stop to spark up a fag and phone an old mate back in Sofia. But more often these days he appears intent on filling the creativity gap left by Eric Cantona.
At Goodison Park at the weekend an Everton defender was allowed to receive a pass from the goalkeeper in a space Berbatov might have raced across to occupy had he been Wayne Rooney's twin. Paul Scholes observed this relapse into indolence and waved to indicate a little defensive scampering was required. Berbatov dipped his shoulders, as if about to sprint, but then thought better of it, using the time instead to plan his next flourish.
Manchester United fans need no pleading to sing about Cantona: their ideal exotic compound of skill, muscularity and defiance. At Everton those supporters broke into their sacred "Ooh-aah Cantona" anthem just as Berbatov was relaxing into his best repertoire of chips, flicks, feints and link-ups.
A floaty, slow-footed but quick-brained master of space, Berbatov has put pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson to reverse last season's Champions League policy of starting with his £30m Bulgarian striker on the bench. As Rangers roll into Old Trafford tonight there seems only the slimmest chance that Berbatov will return to the subservient role.
In Rooney's absence on Saturday the carpe diem spirit took him as Ferguson asked him to capitalise on a promising start to his campaign by leading the attack. His encouraging response removed the doubts about his appetite and mental toughness in adversity.
Only a reversion to 4-5-1 with Rooney the lone centre-forward could consign Bulgaria's six-times footballer of the year to the seat he occupied for all bar one of United's Champions League ties in 2009-10. In that season his strike rate dropped from 14 in his debut year to 12 and speculation spread that United would give up on him in this summer's transfer window.
"I am going nowhere. I have arrived where I want to be. I have arrived at the summit," Berbatov announced as the crows on the wire predicted his departure.
It sounded like bravado as Ferguson signed Javier Hernández and Bébé and spoke again on the pre-season tour of America of the long-term potential of Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck.
A cynic might speculate that Berbatov's rebirth is related to his knowledge that the four-year deal he signed on 1 September 2008 expires at the end of next season. He would hardly be the first top-level player to see his contract slide into the two-year danger zone and then shake a leg. He will be 30 in January. His international retirement in May was framed as a surrender to weariness with Bulgarian football politics but was probably more an attempt to revive his club career.
The symbolic declaration of intent was his spectacular chip in the Community Shield against Chelsea. "He's an important player for us. It's an old habit when players who come to United and they're not scoring three goals a game or making 50 passes they get slaughtered," Ferguson said. "He has great talent. You can't dispute the man's ability – he's a genius at times. Maybe it's going to be his season now."
In the weekend's 3-3 draw with Everton it was noticeable that United's midfielders were more confident in believing Berbatov would keep his feet in motion and dash on to the end of ambitious passes rather than wait around like an elegant refugee from the 1970s.
His goal, United's second, came from a classic ball over the top of a centre-half, from Scholes, which asked Berbatov to hunt then sprint before he could set up an artistic finish with the out-step of his right boot.
Scholes and Ryan Giggs are marking fewer allowances for him now. Berbatov has responded by signing up to the harder half of a United striker's job specification. Not unreservedly, but enough to stop him drifting like a passenger. With 32 goals in all in European competition and two Champions League final appearances already there is not a doubt about his talent.
Cantona was on a permanent war footing: cocked and combative. Berbatov, "the man with the Dracula haircut", according to one Community Shield report, is a lone wolf too, but more of the suffering kind. No longer, though, are the cognoscenti dismissing him as the right player in the wrong team. The rise in his productivity this autumn could yet prompt Rooney's return to the more withdrawn position Fabio Capello has allocated him with England.
Industry is non-negotiable for all United players but we all know Berbatov was not bought to charge around. The qualities that caused him to cost an initial £23.4m were those on show at Everton: the ones that are impossible for opponents to predict.