Dimitar Berbatov today pleaded with Tottenham to let him leave and give him the chance to "follow my dream".

Manchester United have been chasing the Bulgaria striker all summer and although he did not name Sir Alex Ferguson's side the implications of his words were clear.

"I'm now in Tottenham but no one can disagree with me wanting to follow my dream," Berbatov said ahead of his country's midweek friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Ferguson's need to push through a £28million deal were highlighted by his side's performance against Newcastle yesterday when without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, who was missing due to a bereavement, United could only draw 1-1.

Berbatov's agent, Emil Dantchev, said: "We have two more weeks until the end of the transfer window and I think this will be the most important week. I read Alex Ferguson's statement that he wants another striker and I hope that is Dimitar Berbatov."

The Bulgarian came off the bench as Spurs lost their opening match of the season 2-1 at Middlesbrough and looked less than happy to have been left out of the starting line-up.

"If I had been laughing when I was on the bench, people would say I was an idiot," he said.

"Eric Cantona never smiled, but I don't know if anyone ever asked him why he didn't look happier."

Tottenham are likely to turn their attention to other forward targets, including Valencia's Diego Forlan, should Berbatov go.

That is because they are unlikely to sign Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St Petersburg, according to the player's agent.

Spurs were expected to use the funds from Berbatov's probable move United to land the Russia international. But Dennis Lachter believes Zenit's valuation of the player means the on-off deal is unlikely to reach a conclusion.

Lachter said: "Andrei would love to go to England but if it stays like this, there will be no deal. Zenit will not sell for a penny less than £20m and Spurs will not go above £17m."

Despite their defeat, Spurs centre-half Jonathan Woodgate believes the club's league of nations can launch a top-four challenge.

He said: "It may take a bit of time to gel. We had a lot of the ball but we lost possession too often and we have to work harder as a team to get it back.

"When we've got the ball we're a good team."