Less than 24 hours before the start of the Premier League season, the possible transfer of Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov away from White Hart Lane continues to dominate newspaper column inches in Britain. While Tottenham manager Juande Ramos is putting on a brave face over the chances of keeping his team's biggest start, his Manchester United counterpart Alex Ferguson, who has pursued the Bulgarian for more than a year now, has gone quiet on the issue.

“Dimitar is a great player and is carrying himself superbly through this and we want him to stay,” Ramos said on August 14, as quoted by The Times. “I have no preference one way or another. You have to go with what is happening.” In private, however, the Spaniard is resigned to losing the striker, the daily said.

Having sold Jermaine Defoe in January and Robbie Keane in July, losing Berbatov would leave Darren Bent as the only proven Premiership striker on Tottenham's books, even though the club has signed a plethora of attacking midfield players this summer, with Luka Modric, Giovanni dos Santos and David Bentley all making the switch to London. Nevertheless, Berbatov's sale will not hinge on the signing of a replacement first, according to Ramos.

"It is nothing to panic about," he said. "We work without rest to look for players and we have always known the deadline day is August 31. We are working calmly in the background on one or two things."

Ramos added a little barb at United, saying that Tottenham prefered "to work with as much discretion as we can." Club officials have been reported to be so incensed with British media trumpeting the transfer as a nearly-done earlier this week, that they upped their asking price to 32 million pounds, although United "expect to complete a deal for approximately 28 million pounds sooner rather than later," The Times said.

Ferguson, at a news conference on August 15 during which he announced that Wayne Rooney would be in the squad for United's match against Newcastle, refused to comment on the drawn-out transfer saga. "I have nothing to say, absolutely nothing at all," he said, as quoted by the Independent.

Even if they lose Berbatov, Spurs can still challenge England's Big Four for a Champions League place, according to The Guardian's interpretation of Ramos' words, but if their valuation of the Bulgarian is not met, the White Hart Lane brass would rather sell the player to a club outside England.

Barcelona, who have failed in their efforts to land Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor earlier this summer, are believed to be closely tracking the negotiations, the Daily Telegraph said. "Barcelona are watching the situation very closely and we know they would love to sign Dimitar," the paper quoted a White Hart Lane insider as saying.