Berbatov price war: Barcelona battle United for Spurs striker

United are working on a deal for Berbatov and Spurs' belief that Barcelona are also monitoring the 27-year-old could move negotiations along on the eve of the Premier League season.

At the moment, there has been no announcement of a fee being agreed between Spurs and United, and Berbatov has been training in London.

The Bulgaria striker has told officials he wants to leave White Hart Lane and is thought to be just one of the targets United are looking at, with a bid turned down for Valencia's David Silva earlier this week, according to the Spain midfielder's agent.

Heading elsewhere: The Berbatov saga has filled the back pages for the majority of the summer - yet the Bulgarian striker may not move to Manchester United

Should the saga drag into the first week of the season, Spurs head coach Juande Ramos will make a late decision on whether Berbatov should feature against Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

'I will wait until the final training session and see how he is in training, that's when I will make a decision on that,' he said.

'He's an excellent pro, he's been working totally independently to anything that might be happening outside the football and any speculation has been dealt by his agent. He's just been getting on with things professionally in training.'

Berbatov has been expected to leave since Spurs chairman Daniel Levy released a
statement suggesting the £10.9million signing from Bayer Leverkusen could have a
negative effect on the dressing room as he wanted to leave.

He also lodged a complaint with the Premier League about United's conduct in the last 12 month in their pursuit of Berbatov.

With Robbie Keane leaving for Liverpool, Ramos would be left with just Darren Bent as an out-and-out striker if Berbatov moves.

Ramos said: 'If you ask any manager, they always want their best players available - Dimitar is no different.

'He is a great player and is carrying himself superbly well through this and we want him to stay but if it is my personal opinion, I have no preference one way or another - you have to go with what is happening.

'He's our player, he is at our club and he is a fantastic player - it would be great for him to stay.'

Ramos, however, has been pleased with the prolific form of Bent in pre-season, and he also has Giovani dos Santos as a support striker, while Luka Modric and David Bentley are expected to provide firepower from midfield.

Ramos added: 'It is nothing to panic about. We have performed very well in recent friendlies, they have been great attacking performances so it is not something that concerns me.

'We are aware there are only two weeks to go before the end of the window, that is something we are working on constantly anyway.

'We work without rest to look for players and we've always known the deadline day is the August 31.

'We are working calmly, in the background, on one or two things. We prefer to
work with as much discretion as we can.'