Modern Football Mavericks: Dimitar Berbatov
What is a Maverick?
A Maverick is an unorthodox or independent-minded person. In regards to Football, these individuals has gone against the rules set by clubs, organisations (e.g. F.A) and even those that fans expect any other player to follow. Some are loved and some are hated, and in this mini-series of posts, I will be looking at how they have become a Maverick and what this means for them on and off the pitch.
Name: Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov
D.O.B: 30th January 1981
Club: POAK
Career Information: CSKA Sofia (1998- 2001), Bayer Leverkusen B (2001), Bayer Leverkusen (2001-2006), Tottenham (2006 - 2008), Manchester United (2008- 2012), Fulham (2012- 2014), AS Monaco (2014-2015). POAK (2015 - Present)
Honours:
Club
CSKA Sofia
Bulgarian Cup 1998-99
Tottenham
League Cup 2008-09
Manchester United
Premier League 2008-09, 2010-11
League Cup 2009-10
FA Community Shield 2010, 2011
FIFA Club World Cup 2008
Individual
Bulgarian Man of the Year 2009
Bulgarian Footballer of the Year 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
UEFA Cup Joint Top-Goalscorer 2000-2001
DFB-Pokal Top Goalscorer 2001-02
AS Monaco Player of the Year 2014
Fulham Player of the Season 2012-13
Tottenham Club Player of the Year 2006-07
Bayer Leverkusen Player of the Season 2005-06
Ligue 1 Player of the Month April 2014
Premier League Player of the Month April 2007, January 2011
PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2006-07, 2010-11
Premier League Joint Golden Boot Winner 2010-11
FIFA FIFPro World XI Nominee 2007, 2008, 2010
Keep Calm and assist Berbatov?
Football fans, especially ones who live on Twitter, hate lazy players. They want their players to be drenched in sweat and truly give all they can do all they can for the club and the cause of the club. But there is nothing worse than being a lazy striker in Modern Football. Fans get on your case in a hurry, social media accounts such as The SportBible share a funny but serious image of you and football stat accounts, such as Opta, provide an interesting yet embarrassing account of your personal performances. There is however, one player that has escaped through this judgement from Football fans as he has built his reputation as one of the most talented yet unfortunately for some, laziest strikers in the game's history. His name is Dimitar Berbatov.
Compared to some obvious Mavericks in World Football, Berbatov isn't nearly as much a Maverick as loud-mouthed players. I am focusing on Berbatov's extremely relaxed approach to the striker role at some of the World's best teams and how he has largely become a cult hero despite wasting the easiest goalscoring opponents but then scoring amazing goals from ridiculous angles and positions.
Growing up, Berbatov's favourite team was AC Milan and he modelled his Marco Van Basten. However, quite ironically actually, he would 'model' his skills after England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer's performances at the 1996 European Championships. His mother said he slept in a Newcastle shirt after watching Shearer. So clearly even at a very young age, Berbatov set his own rules going against the mainstream rules of supporting one team as a kid. Signing for CSKA Moscow in 1998, it was the following season when he made his name, scoring 14 goals in 27 league games. Bayer Leverkusen then bought him for €1.3 million in January 2001 and the following season scored 16 goals and added a massive contribution to Bayer as they lost the Champions League final 2-1 to Real Madrid, second in the Bundesliga to Borussia Dortmund and losing the DFB- Pokal final to Schalke. He then established himself as a first-team player in the 2003-04 season and followed this up with 46 goals in the league in the next two seasons, including scoring five times in the 2004-05 Champions League campaign.
In May 2006, Berbatov's selectively clinical finishing earned him to the promised land of Football, the Premier League. Tottenham bought Berba for €16 million (£10.8 million) and making him the most expensive Bulgarian footballer ever. During his time at White Hart Lane, Berba actually break a convention of being a Maverick in Football by forming a strike-force with Robbie Keane and this was shown when they both won Premier League Month of the Month award for April 2007. Berba won the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season award of 2006-07 season, having scored 12 goals in 33 appearances, as well as a place in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Berba scored his first Premier League hat-trick on 29th December 2007, scoring four against Reading in a 6-4 win and won the Football League Cup 2-1 (after extra-time) against Chelsea. He ended the season with 15 league goals. At the start of 2008-09 season, Berba was dropped for Sunderland and Chelsea due to rumours that Sir Alex Ferguson was extremely close to signing the Bulgarian for Manchester United.
Berba did instead to Manchester United on 1st September 2008 for £30.75 million. Tottenham accepted a bid from Manchester City but Berbatov said that he 'would have never have thought about City'. When United won the Premier League on 16th May 2009, Berba became the first Bulgarian to win the English Premier League. Following a poor 2009-10 season, which he only scored 12 goals in all competitions, Sir Alex Ferguson denied reports that Berba would be allowed to leave the club. The cool Bulgarian scored his first hat-trick for United against Liverpool on 19th September 2010, the first treble by a Manchester United against Liverpool for 46 years. Yet again, Berba was making history like any Maverick takes in their stride. Berba then shared the Golden Boot for 2010-11 with team-mate with Carlos Tevez. He then had quite a slow start to the 2011-12 season but recovered to decent form. Berba was linked with Bayern Munich in 2012 but killed this rumour dead when he signed a year extension with United.
On 31st August 2012, Berbatov signed for Fulham, on a two-year contract, for a undisclosed fee. He had quite an average time at the London club and moved to Monaco on January deadline day 2014 in order to replace the injured Radamel Falcao. It was first thought to be a loan move but Fulham stated that they had released Berbatov. After a decent season, Berba signed a one-year extension but was released on 1st June 2015, with the club stating that "He is clearly among the greatest strikers who have played for Monaco". POAK then signed the Bulgarian on a one-year deal, and the club owner Ivan Savvidis added that he had been trying to sign Berba for three years. On an international level, Berbatov scored 48 goals in 78 games for Bulgaria, making him Bulgaria's record goalscorer.
Some facts that you may find interesting about Berbatov is that he learnt English from watching the Godfather film series, he sponsors five care homes in Bulgaria and is the founder of the Dimitar Berbatov foundation, which is aimed at advancing young children's talents in Bulgaria (and I have seen the wonderful things it has done when I visited Burgas this previous summer, allowing children of all talents to have fantastic opportunities both domestically and internationally). Like many Footballers, and a few Mavericks, Berba appreciates his privileged position in the World and has focused his life outside Football to giving others opportunities that can change their lives.
For me, personally, Berbatov is one of the best all-time out-and-out strikers for the sheer fact that he doesn't have to be draining in sweat to gain goalscoring choices and finish a few like it's a training session. So how do I conclude how much of a Maverick Berbatov is? Simple to be honest, an example of Berbatov's classy attitude on the pitch during his time at Fulham. Scoring for Fulham on Boxing Day in 2012, Berbatov pulled up his shirt to show a T-shirt that said "Keep calm and pass me the ball".
Club
CSKA Sofia
Bulgarian Cup 1998-99
Tottenham
League Cup 2008-09
Manchester United
Premier League 2008-09, 2010-11
League Cup 2009-10
FA Community Shield 2010, 2011
FIFA Club World Cup 2008
Individual
Bulgarian Man of the Year 2009
Bulgarian Footballer of the Year 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
UEFA Cup Joint Top-Goalscorer 2000-2001
DFB-Pokal Top Goalscorer 2001-02
AS Monaco Player of the Year 2014
Fulham Player of the Season 2012-13
Tottenham Club Player of the Year 2006-07
Bayer Leverkusen Player of the Season 2005-06
Ligue 1 Player of the Month April 2014
Premier League Player of the Month April 2007, January 2011
PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2006-07, 2010-11
Premier League Joint Golden Boot Winner 2010-11
FIFA FIFPro World XI Nominee 2007, 2008, 2010
Keep Calm and assist Berbatov?
Football fans, especially ones who live on Twitter, hate lazy players. They want their players to be drenched in sweat and truly give all they can do all they can for the club and the cause of the club. But there is nothing worse than being a lazy striker in Modern Football. Fans get on your case in a hurry, social media accounts such as The SportBible share a funny but serious image of you and football stat accounts, such as Opta, provide an interesting yet embarrassing account of your personal performances. There is however, one player that has escaped through this judgement from Football fans as he has built his reputation as one of the most talented yet unfortunately for some, laziest strikers in the game's history. His name is Dimitar Berbatov.
Compared to some obvious Mavericks in World Football, Berbatov isn't nearly as much a Maverick as loud-mouthed players. I am focusing on Berbatov's extremely relaxed approach to the striker role at some of the World's best teams and how he has largely become a cult hero despite wasting the easiest goalscoring opponents but then scoring amazing goals from ridiculous angles and positions.
Growing up, Berbatov's favourite team was AC Milan and he modelled his Marco Van Basten. However, quite ironically actually, he would 'model' his skills after England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer's performances at the 1996 European Championships. His mother said he slept in a Newcastle shirt after watching Shearer. So clearly even at a very young age, Berbatov set his own rules going against the mainstream rules of supporting one team as a kid. Signing for CSKA Moscow in 1998, it was the following season when he made his name, scoring 14 goals in 27 league games. Bayer Leverkusen then bought him for €1.3 million in January 2001 and the following season scored 16 goals and added a massive contribution to Bayer as they lost the Champions League final 2-1 to Real Madrid, second in the Bundesliga to Borussia Dortmund and losing the DFB- Pokal final to Schalke. He then established himself as a first-team player in the 2003-04 season and followed this up with 46 goals in the league in the next two seasons, including scoring five times in the 2004-05 Champions League campaign.
In May 2006, Berbatov's selectively clinical finishing earned him to the promised land of Football, the Premier League. Tottenham bought Berba for €16 million (£10.8 million) and making him the most expensive Bulgarian footballer ever. During his time at White Hart Lane, Berba actually break a convention of being a Maverick in Football by forming a strike-force with Robbie Keane and this was shown when they both won Premier League Month of the Month award for April 2007. Berba won the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season award of 2006-07 season, having scored 12 goals in 33 appearances, as well as a place in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Berba scored his first Premier League hat-trick on 29th December 2007, scoring four against Reading in a 6-4 win and won the Football League Cup 2-1 (after extra-time) against Chelsea. He ended the season with 15 league goals. At the start of 2008-09 season, Berba was dropped for Sunderland and Chelsea due to rumours that Sir Alex Ferguson was extremely close to signing the Bulgarian for Manchester United.
Berba did instead to Manchester United on 1st September 2008 for £30.75 million. Tottenham accepted a bid from Manchester City but Berbatov said that he 'would have never have thought about City'. When United won the Premier League on 16th May 2009, Berba became the first Bulgarian to win the English Premier League. Following a poor 2009-10 season, which he only scored 12 goals in all competitions, Sir Alex Ferguson denied reports that Berba would be allowed to leave the club. The cool Bulgarian scored his first hat-trick for United against Liverpool on 19th September 2010, the first treble by a Manchester United against Liverpool for 46 years. Yet again, Berba was making history like any Maverick takes in their stride. Berba then shared the Golden Boot for 2010-11 with team-mate with Carlos Tevez. He then had quite a slow start to the 2011-12 season but recovered to decent form. Berba was linked with Bayern Munich in 2012 but killed this rumour dead when he signed a year extension with United.
On 31st August 2012, Berbatov signed for Fulham, on a two-year contract, for a undisclosed fee. He had quite an average time at the London club and moved to Monaco on January deadline day 2014 in order to replace the injured Radamel Falcao. It was first thought to be a loan move but Fulham stated that they had released Berbatov. After a decent season, Berba signed a one-year extension but was released on 1st June 2015, with the club stating that "He is clearly among the greatest strikers who have played for Monaco". POAK then signed the Bulgarian on a one-year deal, and the club owner Ivan Savvidis added that he had been trying to sign Berba for three years. On an international level, Berbatov scored 48 goals in 78 games for Bulgaria, making him Bulgaria's record goalscorer.
Some facts that you may find interesting about Berbatov is that he learnt English from watching the Godfather film series, he sponsors five care homes in Bulgaria and is the founder of the Dimitar Berbatov foundation, which is aimed at advancing young children's talents in Bulgaria (and I have seen the wonderful things it has done when I visited Burgas this previous summer, allowing children of all talents to have fantastic opportunities both domestically and internationally). Like many Footballers, and a few Mavericks, Berba appreciates his privileged position in the World and has focused his life outside Football to giving others opportunities that can change their lives.
For me, personally, Berbatov is one of the best all-time out-and-out strikers for the sheer fact that he doesn't have to be draining in sweat to gain goalscoring choices and finish a few like it's a training session. So how do I conclude how much of a Maverick Berbatov is? Simple to be honest, an example of Berbatov's classy attitude on the pitch during his time at Fulham. Scoring for Fulham on Boxing Day in 2012, Berbatov pulled up his shirt to show a T-shirt that said "Keep calm and pass me the ball".
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