On the latest episode of the Last Word On Spurs podcast, former Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Fulham striker Dimitar Berbatov featured as a guest, to talk through his footballing career and time with the north London club.
One question the former striker answered during the recent podcast was why he decided to sign for the north London club back in 2006, when he joined from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of £14.13 million (per Transfermarkt). The Bulgarian then went on to contribute 46 goals and 24 assists in 102 appearances for the Lilywhites (per Transfermarkt), before joining Manchester United in 2008.
Here’s what he had to say about his decision to join Spurs on the podcast:
“When you hear Tottenham Hotspur [are interested], I was like ‘okay, that’s interesting.’ But because I was playing so much football with Leverkusen and scoring so many goals and I was thinking that I know everything, like every young player, I [told] my agent, ‘listen, I am the starter for Leverkusen, I score so many goals. I need to go to Barcelona, I need to go to Milan, these are the teams for me.’
“Then, he started to explain to me and I see that the coach was Martin Jol, [they had] Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick, Ledley King. I [started following] them and [started] to care to see what they are doing on the pitch. Actually, the thing that [convinced] me the most was that Spurs were really after me. Damien Comolli came to see me, I spoke with Daniel Levy, with Martin Jol and this for football players is really important, to feel that he is wanted.”
He later describes the decision to join Spurs as:
“Another best decision in my life was joining Spurs.”
TIF Thoughts…
Whilst Berbatov admits that during his time at Leverkusen he was hoping to attract the interest of the likes of Barcelona and Milan, he was happy to join Spurs once their interest in him became apparent, as they made it very clear that they wanted him to sign, which he describes as an important factor.
Is Berbatov a Spurs legend?
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Of course, that proved to be an excellent decision from the Bulgarian, who enjoyed a fruitful spell in the Premier League not just with his time with Spurs, contributing 94 goals and 42 assists in 229 English top-flight appearances during his career (per Transfermarkt).