THE GAME of brinkmanship between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United over the future of Dimitar Berbatov intensified last night when the London club indicated they would be willing to consign the striker to the reserves rather than sell him to the Premier League champions for anything less than their €37.6 million valuation of him.
Spurs, having rejected United's opening €25.1 million bid for the 27-year-old Bulgarian, are awaiting an improved offer, but relations between the clubs are strained after Tottenham complained to the Premier League alleging United had inappropriately pursued Berbatov.
Spurs manager Juande Ramos spoke with the striker on Friday and deemed him not "focused enough" to feature against Sunderland on Saturday, with an attitude that would not "be good for the dressing-room and the team effort".
Although that statement appeared to offer United the initiative in their pursuit of Berbatov as they prepared an improved and apparently final bid of €31.4 million, Spurs have moved swiftly to indicate they were willing to relegate him to the second string, where he would remain even after the closure of the transfer window, should United not offer the full €37.6 million.
Compromise is still likely to be reached before Monday's deadline, but Spurs are dismayed no real interest has been expressed in the striker by any other club.
Manchester City have made an official bid in the region of €1.3 million to bring Shaun Wright-Phillips back to the club from Chelsea. The winger has become Mark Hughes' top priority for the final week of a transfer window in which City, for all their financial issues, may yet finish as the highest spenders in the league.
Chelsea are willing to accept a €12 million loss on the right-winger, and the only stumbling block is that Wright-Phillips is reluctant to leave London.
Chelsea hope the deal can be concluded soon so the money can be put towards their proposed signing of Robinho from Real Madrid. While no fee has yet been agreed, Real paved the way for his departure by bidding €46 million yesterday for the Valencia forward David Villa.
Andriy Shevchenko, meanwhile, will complete his return to Milan today after a medical at the club's complex. The Ukrainian is expected to sign a one-year loan deal with an option to make the move permanent next summer.
David Moyes expects to make his long-awaited breakthrough in the transfer market today by completing a deal to take the Danish defender Lars Christian Jacobsen to Goodison Park.
The 28-year-old right-back, a free agent since buying out his contract with Nuremberg in June, underwent a medical at the Finch Farm training complex yesterday.
• Guardian Service
