Manchester United boss Ferguson claims that their "Fans [are] to expect a surprise in the next 48 hours." so it may well be that Berbatov is announced either before the match against Newcastle on Sunday, or possibly in time for him to feature in the match.

I would expect him to be announced as a Man Utd player tomorrow, rather than try and unveil him in front of the Newcastle fans, but it seems a done deal to me.

Berbatov would end up playing one year in Manchester, and then we'd get the Real Madrid transfer roadshow chasing him next season. United should look elsewhere. Santa Cruz looks like a decent human being as well as a decent striker. He's signed a four year deal, basically as a thank you to Blackburn for giving him a nice introduction to England, when none of the big clubs thought he was worth the gamble. What dividends would one of the big four reap with a striker of his calibre feeding from a better team than Blackburn??? So, forget Pierre Van Hoojdonk partII, and go for a footballer like Santa Cruz. 28million for Berba, 15mill would prob prize Santa Cruz away from Lancashire. That leaves 13million to invest in a decent defender, as a replacement in the squad for Silvestre.