Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov born 30 January 1981 in Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United in the Premier League and the Bulgarian national team. He has won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award five times, equalling the number of wins by Hristo Stoichkov.

Berbatov's father, Ivan, was a professional footballer with local outfit Pirin Blagoevgrad, and his mother, Margarita, was a professional handball player. As a youngster, Berbatov supported Milan and modelled himself on Marco van Basten until Euro '96 in England, when the then fifteen year old discovered a new role model in Alan Shearer, formerly of Newcastle United, even sleeping in a Newcastle shirt. His mother later spoke of Dimitar's dream of playing for Newcastle one day. Berbatov learned the English language by watching the "Godfather" films. Outside of football, he lists his hobbies as drawing and basketball.Berbatov is a sponsor of children's charities in his native Bulgaria, supporting five care homes. He also has plans to open a football academy in his hometown.

Berbatov's career began at the Pirin Blagoevgrad club, and continued until he was spotted by legendary scout and coach Dimitar Penev.
A run of nine goals in 11 games in 2000–01 was enough to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to sign Berbatov in January 2001. Berbatov had a slow start to his Leverkusen career with just 16 goals in his first 67 appearances for the club. He did however play a crucial role in the Champions League during his first season with the club scoring a memorable solo effort against Lyon with an excellent piece of skill, as well as a goal against Liverpool in the quarter finals. He also played a part in the final against Real Madrid coming on as a substitute for Thomas Brdaric after 38 minutes.
Speculation surrounded a potential move in 2004 for the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, but it was May 2006, when Berbatov finally joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of €16m, making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history. After being granted a work permit, the transfer was completed, and Berbatov joined Tottenham on 1 July 2006. He scored two goals in two minutes in his first match, as a Tottenham player against Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly match.
After much speculation, Berbatov completed a move to Manchester United on 1 September 2008 for a fee of around £30.75 million, with Fraizer Campbell joining Tottenham on a season-long loan as part of the deal. This came despite Tottenham accepting a bid for Berbatov from Manchester City on the same day. Berbatov's contract to United is for four years, and he wears the number 9 shirt previously worn by Louis Saha. Berbatov later insisted he never even considered a move to Manchester City.