Manchester United Fans Club

Dimitar Berbatov expects to be a Manchester United player within the next 48 hours. The Bulgarian striker has told his Tottenham team-mates that he is on his way to Old Trafford. The £25million deal ends a year-long pursuit of the player by United boss Alex Ferguson. As we reported on Saturday, United were confident the deal would be done by the end of this week.

Now the Champions hope to unveil him as their new signing in time to be eligible for their big kick-off against Newcastle on Sunday. Berbatov, 27, feared the deal might be off when reports surfaced of possible United moves for Thierry Henry at Barcelona and Valencia’s David Villa. But Berbatov was always Ferguson’s No1 one target. He has had three bids rejected - last summer, in the New Year and at the end of this season.

Virtually every tabloid and broadsheet says the same, with varying transfer fees quoted, with the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph saying United will pay £28m.

If Ferguson is willing to part with £28m for this transfer, I personally think it is well over priced by Tottenham. The right figure would be just around £20m-£23m the most.

Park Ji-Sung hopes to put a frustrating summer behind him next week with a return to full training.  The South Korean midfielder hasn’t made any pre-season appearances for The Red Devils, following a flare-up of his knee injury while playing for Korea at the end of last campaign.

But with Ji’s rehabilitation almost complete, he could be taking part in first-team training sessions between the Newcastle (17 August) and Portsmouth (25 August) matches.

Park told MUTV: “I need probably one more week (before I’m back in full training), I’m nearly there. I’m looking forward to the season because last season I missed six months.

“I want to play more than last season and show my ability on the pitch. Then maybe I will get more chances (in the team).”

Park will hopefully pick up from where he left off last season, when he started five of United’s last eight matches including the crucial league game against Arsenal at Old Trafford and both legs of the Champions League semi-final.

Chelsea skipper John Terry believes Cristiano Ronaldo will be unable to sustain last season’s sensational form for Manchester United.Ronaldo’s stunning 42-goal haul underpinned United’s Premier League and European double and led to Real Madrid’s summer pursuit of the Portuguese winger.

Having succeeded in fending off the Spanish giants for another year, Old Trafford now awaits to see if his brilliance was a one-off.

Terry insists he will fail to scale those heights again - along with many of the United line-up who he feels peaked last season. (more…)