The striker who failed to live up to his billing at Manchester United could yet be a leading man after leaving a relegation fight with Fulham for a Ligue 1 title battle against Paris Saint-GermainThey know all about rolling the dice at Place du Casino, the central square in Monaco, and on Sunday a pursuit of risk will also be evident across town at Stade Louis II when the hosts, second in Ligue 1, take on the leaders, Paris Saint-Germain. Five points separate the sides with only 15 games to play, making victory a must for Claudio Ranieris side if they are to stand any chance of usurping PSG as French champions. Quite simply, Monaco must gamble.In France they are suggesting Les Rouge et Blanc have done that already. When the clubs £52.8m record signing and joint top-scorer Radamel Falcao suffered knee ligament damage last month, and was ruled out for the rest of the season, Ranieri insisted the club would not sign a replacement striker. Yet they did just that, bringing in Dimitar Berbatov on loan from Fulham on transfer deadline day.Undeniably talented he may be, and with a swagger that will not look out of place among Monte Carlos glamorous elite, the Bulgarian is being viewed in France as someone who has as much chance of disrupting Monacos title pursuit as enhancing it.Berbatovs style does not suit Monaco, says LEquipe football writer Jean-Michel Rouet. Under Ranieri they have become a team in which all players have to defend, even Falcao, and that is not something Berbatov likes to do. I cannot see him settling into the side and this could cause problems for Monaco. Also, his arrival could stop the advancement of Valère Germain, a young French striker who has scored twice since coming into the team for Falcao. He is popular with the supporters and much more suited to Monacos way of playing than Berbatov.Speaking to the media, Berbatov admitted that replacing Falcao represents a huge challenge. Yet there was also an acknowledgement that signing for a club of Monacos wealth and ambitions offers him, at the age of 33, a final, golden chance to prove his worth at the highest level. He spoke of wanting to light up Ligue 1 with my assists, my goals and my qualities and of helping Monaco qualify for the Champions League. Little wonder Berbatov could not wait to get away from the drudgery of fighting against relegation with Fulham – and for those who adore a maverick, a sportsman of sublime skill and captivating character, the hope must be that he succeeds.There is something undeniably unfulfilling about Berbatovs career. Yes, he may have won two Premier League titles with Manchester United, featured in a Champions League final with the same club as well as with Bayer Leverkusen, won the Carling Cup with Tottenham and earned 78 caps for Bulgaria but for a player of such gifts there should have been more.Ultimately, the regret lies in what did, or rather did not, happen at Old Trafford. Having been a runaway success at Tottenham Hotspur, where in three seasons he scored 46 goals in 101 matches and played with a level of balletic control and lethal finishing that reduced many onlookers to swooning wrecks, Berbatov was signed by United in September 2008 for a then club record fee of £30.7m. In his autobiography, Sir Alex Ferguson speaks of the forward having shown at Spurs the ability of Eric Cantona or Teddy Sheringham and being someone who could bring us up a level and extend our range of talents. This, remember, was a side that had just won the Premier League and Champions League.The pressure was on, then, and, ultimately, Berbatov did not rise to the occasion. His goal return at United was decent – 56 in 149 games, alongside 27 assists – and there were occasional moments of breathtaking skill, such as that assist against West Ham in October 2008, but he was too meandering to make it at United. As Ferguson added: When the play broke down he was inclined to walk. You cant do that at our place.There was a lot of walking at Fulham, too. Berbatov moved to the London club from United for £5m in August 2012 and initially proved to be a bargain purchase, scoring five goals in his first seven games for Martin Jols side and playing with the assurance and imagination that had so excited Ferguson.Overall, there were 15 goals in 35 appearances during that first season at Craven Cottage, a healthy return, yet cracks were evident, most notably in the increasing levels of frustration Berbatov displayed towards his team-mates when they failed to pick him out or make themselves available for a pass, and when the player revealed a T-shirt carrying the message: Keep calm and pass me the ball during a 1-1 draw with Southampton in December 2012 the sense of a man who viewed himself a level above those around him only hardened.This campaign the brooding has remained, even after being made captain, yet the goals have all but dried up – Berbatov scored only five times in 19 appearances prior to joining Monaco until the end of the season, a move that as good as ends the Bulgarians Fulham career, given his contract with the club winds up in the summer.By the end Berbatov had allowed his shoulder to sag deeper than our position in the table, says David Lloyd, editor of the Theres Only One F in Fulham fanzine. It was obvious he had become exasperated by the players around him and by the team in general and couldnt be bothered anymore, which was a shame because at his best Berbatov was a joy to watch. In the game against West Ham on New Years Day, for instance, he pulled off four touches which were utterly sublime. In terms of pure ability, he is one of the best players Ive ever seen at Fulham.Berbatovs failings could be put down to combination of arrogance and lack of raw desire to succeed, yet that would be to overlook the mans complex and paradoxical nature. On one hand there is the Keep Calm T-shirt, which points towards aloofness; while on the other there is Ferguson speaking of a player who during his time at United was surprisingly lacking in self-assurance. Then there is the absence of zeal on the pitch, which contrasts with the tales of a young Berbatov driving himself into the ground in order to make it at his hometown club Pirin Blagoevrad.That attitude was maintained at CSKA Sofia, who Berbatov supported as a child after being given a club pennant by Hristo Stoichkov and eventually joined at the age of 17. It was at CSKA that Berbatov also first felt the cruelty of rejection and upon being sold to Leverkusen in 2001 he vowed to break all emotional ties with football and see the sport purely as a career. Success not love was to be the only pursuit.For a while he was right on track, taking a step up from Leverkusen to Tottenham and then on to United, which should have been the mountain top from where Berbatov reached all of his professional ambitions. Instead he slid down and landed at Fulham, where personal frustration looked set to mark the end of a frustrating career.On Sunday, however, comes another chance for Berbatov to dazzle: Monaco v PSG, one of Frances nouveau riche glory seekers against another. It will be a grand stage for the man with the film star looks and love of Robert De Niro to prove he can still be a leading man at a leading club.Do not bet against Berba taking the breath away at least one more time.MonacoParis Saint-GermainLigue 1European club footballFulhamManchester UnitedSir Alex FergusonSachin Nakranitheguardian © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Posted on: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 22:18:40 +0000
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