Dimi’s £5million Cottage jackpot
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zocoss
Fulham fight off late bid from Spurs to land Berbatov in £5m deal from Man United
Signing of the summer? Dimitar Berbatov says he is excited about his future after joining Fulham
FULHAM have shattered their pay structure to land Dimitar Berbatov.
They are paying the striker £100,000 a week to join them from Manchester United.
Boss Martin Jol has ended an eight-month chase to link up again with the Bulgarian hitman he brought to England six years ago.
But the Cottagers have had to dig deep to land their man at the last minute and see off interest from Italian giants Juventus and Fiorentina.
Berba’s £5m-a-year deal makes him easily the highest-paid player in their history.
They failed only days ago to persuade Mousa Dembele to stay with a contract worth £45,000 a week — and that would have made the Belgian the club’s biggest earner.
Jol signed Berbatov, 31, when he was Spurs boss then successor Juande Ramos sold him to United for £30.75m in 2008.
The capture of Berbatov is a big statement in the wake of Dembele’s departure for Spurs this week.
Jol said: “Of course, you have to pay good players good money.
“But I think we have made steps over the last few years and there have been many clubs who were interested in Dimitar.
“They all tried to get him but we were able and capable of getting him. I tried to do something months ago and it didn’t come off.
“Now, for him, it was the right moment to make a decision and he made that decision for us.
“Our fans will be very happy and proud, because it’s probably the biggest signing in the club’s history.
“Hopefully, he can score goals and we’ve other good players around him.”
Berbatov has been out of favour at Old Trafford since last season.
Yet in 2010-11 he still scored 22 goals, including THREE hat-tricks.
Jol added: “He has a very good record.
“If you look at his record internationally and with Manchester United, I don’t think there’s another striker — maybe Van Persie in five years time — who could achieve that.
“So hopefully we can use those qualities to our advantage and be a very good club in the future.
“I spoke to him last week and he felt good. Now he’s a bit worried because he hasn’t played many games.
“But I think if everything is fine with his medical, he can be involved straightaway.”
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Jacky Woo
recoup 5 and loss of 25m, plus 4 years of wages, what a waste of money