With regards to the ongoing dramas in Premiership with the alleged transfers of Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa’s star players Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbativ and Gareth Barry, The Times analyses the behaviour of the clubs.
 
“Neither Tottenham Hotspur nor Aston Villa want to lose their best players, certainly not to the superpowers whose coat-tails they are trying to cling to, but whether they like to admit it or not – and to judge from their reactions this summer they obviously don’t – both clubs know a good deal when they see one,” The Times said.
 
But selling Robbie Keane to Liverpool Tottenham did not “got the short end of the stick” as they received £19 million for the player. “Similarly, Hotspur stands to gain £30 million through the expected sale of Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United, not a sum to be sniffed at, given that they only paid £10.9 million for the player.”
 
Still, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Villa’s manager Martin O’Neill behaved as though they were the victims of some great injustice, directing “vitriol” at Man Utd and Liverpool.
 
Officially, it had to do with the way United and Liverpool pursued Berbatov, Keane and Barry, but in reality, “it is a desperate attempt to fool supporters into thinking that they put up a fight to keep the players, that they are big enough to withstand the advances of the Premier League bullies and that only the twisted lengths to which United and Liverpool are prepared to go to get their man helped them in the end,” according to the newspaper.
 
Of course, clubs like Villa and Spurs should roll over when a bigger club attempted to buy one of their players, “but there is something deeply unedifying about the way in which they have attempted to portray Liverpool and United as guilty parties, when all the indications behind the scenes have been of two clubs prepared, if not necessarily happy, to strike a deal at the right price.”
 
Tottenham’s Levy would secure a small fortune through Berbatov’s sale, The Times said.
 
Meanwhile, Daily Star become another media in the row to announce that Man Utd’s Ferguson “has stepped up his search for a new striker with Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz his next target – if he fails to land Dimitar Berbatov. Still, he was favoured to clinch a £25 million deal for the Bulgarian striker. Ferguson was also eyeing at least one striker, most likely Ajax’s Klass-Jan Huntelaar. Russian Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was one of Tottenham’s options to replace Berbatov, was also an option for Man Utd.
 
While transfer rumours and bluffing between Tottenham and United is still on, Berbatov appeared in the second half-time of 3-0 Spurs’ defeat over Borussia Dortmund at the Port of Rotterdam Tournament. Berbatov missed the previous match of the Spurs on July 30 against Leyton Orient. The striker travelled with the first team squad, but was not even a substitute in the match. His absence on the field fuelled “speculation he could complete a move to Manchester United in the next few days.”