will have a role to play against the Stokes and the like. I don't want him to leave and wish he could end his career with us. But as a big fan of Berbatov, the player and human being, I think it would be better for him to not take more dents on his confidence by moving to a place where the club and fans will actually appreciates his uniquenss. Excellent article, but I don't really agree. I thought Fergie made a huge mistake not having Berba even on the bench for the Barca match, while keeping Owen (whom I like, so don't get me wrong) who merely replicated Hernandez's role but in a less effective way, while Berba would have offered something very different.. What Berba gives is not just flair and creativity he also holds on to the ball all over the pitch better than anyone else in the team barring Scholes, who has of course now gone. If you watch what Berba's up to when he hasn't got the ball you'll see how much hard work he does, finding space, dragging defenders away, giving options. Overall he works far harder than he's credited for, including tackling and defensive headers at free kicks/ corners (It's an aside but if he'd been playing yesterday City would not have scored their first -- United had a terrific record defending set-pieces last season, some of which was down to Berba.) Of course I wouldn't hold onto Berbatov as a defender, but