10-07-2009, 03:04 PM
Dimitar Berbatov's short and tumultuous Old Trafford stay looks increasingly bleak as Manchester United weigh up a swap deal to lure Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero.
United are understood to have initially offered £34million and Portuguese bit-part winger Nani as a makeweight for the Argentine ace.
But the Spanish outfit, not keen on Nani, rejected the offer and now the Premier League champions are set to return with last season's £30.75million Bulgarian recruit and £17.1million to force a deal with Atletico, according to Spanish daily AS.
Berbatov has come under intense scrutiny after an underwhelming first year at Old Trafford.
The striker has been labelled lazy and was roundly criticised following his FA Cup semi-final penalty shootout miss against Everton at Wembley, which many considered the ultimate tipping point of what has so far been an unsuccessful switch from Spurs.
Having scored just nine goals in 31 outings, United are close to cutting their losses on the 28-year-old who struggled to hold down a first team place towards the end of the season as they look to bolster their firepower for the forthcoming campaign.
Despite the recent addition of free agent Michael Owen, the departures of Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo have left noticeable voids in United's attack.
The Argentine has since emerged as United's No 1 priority in the summer window but the Spanish outfit refuse to be budged on the player's reported £55million buy-out clause - even though they admit they are resigned to his probable exit.
United reportedly entered talks with the 21-year-old's management company IMG last month to discuss the star's wage demands which are said to be around £200,000-per week after tax - a potential obstacle in securing the transfer.
But they are yet to agree a fee with the La Liga club who won't settle for anything less than the star's valuation with United attempting to bargain a reduced deal.
Atletico president Enrique Cerezo confirmed he has a mandate from his board to stay firm on their asking price as they know United have funds to play with the world record £80million fee they banked from Ronaldo's switch to Real Madrid.
He said: 'We will not sell. We have a good team and we will strengthen it in every way that we can.
'We are absolutely calm, not afraid of anything or anyone. We have contracts that we respect and we hope others respect them.
'I cannot do anything if the player wants to leave and a team wants to buy him.'
Aguero, the son-in-law of Argentina boss Diego Maradona, has a choice of interested suitors - including Chelsea and Barcelona - to choose from should he quit the Vicente Calderon, but he is said to be open to a move to the Champions League runners-up.
United are understood to have initially offered £34million and Portuguese bit-part winger Nani as a makeweight for the Argentine ace.
But the Spanish outfit, not keen on Nani, rejected the offer and now the Premier League champions are set to return with last season's £30.75million Bulgarian recruit and £17.1million to force a deal with Atletico, according to Spanish daily AS.
Berbatov has come under intense scrutiny after an underwhelming first year at Old Trafford.
The striker has been labelled lazy and was roundly criticised following his FA Cup semi-final penalty shootout miss against Everton at Wembley, which many considered the ultimate tipping point of what has so far been an unsuccessful switch from Spurs.
Having scored just nine goals in 31 outings, United are close to cutting their losses on the 28-year-old who struggled to hold down a first team place towards the end of the season as they look to bolster their firepower for the forthcoming campaign.
Despite the recent addition of free agent Michael Owen, the departures of Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo have left noticeable voids in United's attack.
The Argentine has since emerged as United's No 1 priority in the summer window but the Spanish outfit refuse to be budged on the player's reported £55million buy-out clause - even though they admit they are resigned to his probable exit.
United reportedly entered talks with the 21-year-old's management company IMG last month to discuss the star's wage demands which are said to be around £200,000-per week after tax - a potential obstacle in securing the transfer.
But they are yet to agree a fee with the La Liga club who won't settle for anything less than the star's valuation with United attempting to bargain a reduced deal.
Atletico president Enrique Cerezo confirmed he has a mandate from his board to stay firm on their asking price as they know United have funds to play with the world record £80million fee they banked from Ronaldo's switch to Real Madrid.
He said: 'We will not sell. We have a good team and we will strengthen it in every way that we can.
'We are absolutely calm, not afraid of anything or anyone. We have contracts that we respect and we hope others respect them.
'I cannot do anything if the player wants to leave and a team wants to buy him.'
Aguero, the son-in-law of Argentina boss Diego Maradona, has a choice of interested suitors - including Chelsea and Barcelona - to choose from should he quit the Vicente Calderon, but he is said to be open to a move to the Champions League runners-up.
