Fiorentina: Berbatov did not deserve our city, did not deserve our jersey.

Berbatov – ‘not fit to wear the Fiorentina jersey’
Photo: Scott Marsh

Italian Serie A club Fiorentina have slammed Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov for his actions after he joined Fulham today.

In a statement on the club’s English language website, the club publicly slammed Berbatov:

“.. we can deem ourselves happy he did not join Fiorentina: he did not deserve our city, he did not deserve to wear our jersey and the values that represent it.”

The Florence club claim that they agreed terms with Manchester United, personal terms with the player and even paid for his airfare to Italy – only for him not to show up.

However they save greater disdain for the culprits who scuppered the move, those culprits perhaps being the club’s most reviled enemy.

They claim his non-arrival in Florence was down to the ‘arrogant actions of other clubs’ by which they mean not Fulham or Manchester United – but Serie A foes Juventus.

Italian champions Juventus had failed in their attempts to land Robin van Persie from Arsenal or Roberto Soldado from Valencia and were beginning to look around as the summer transfer deadline approached.

Yesterday, the Italian press was touting the signing of a forward United once paid close to $50m dollars for. He eventually joined Fulham today for a reported $6m, presumably to replace US international Clint Dempsey who is still trying to move to Liverpool.

Dempsey is reported to have turned down a move to Aston Villa today while holding out for a move to Anfield.

Fiorentina staff waited in vain at the airport

So what went wrong?

Everything had been arranged between Berbatov, Manchester United and Fiorentina who had arranged for the player to fly to Florence to take his medical and ink a 2-year-deal.

As there are no direct flights between Manchester and Florence, Berbatov was booked to fly to Monaco in Southern France to change planes.

On landing, he and his agent saw a text message from Turin declaring Juventus’ interest.

That halted the move to Fiorentina in its tracks and Berbatov decided not to board his connecting flight to Italy. The first news Fiorentina had of this however was when his flight showed up in the city with no player, leaving their technical staff waiting in vain at the airport.

At this point, Fiorentina owner Andrea Della Valle canceled the deal on principle. The Fiorentina statement talks of clubs who ‘nothing to do with fair play and sporting ethics that go even beyond the boundaries of fairness.’

In the meantime Manchester United, who are not the target of Fiorentina’s anger, and Juventus failed to come to an agreement possibly because United did not want to sell to a potential UEFA Champions League opponent. This left Berbatov with no club and the transfer deadline imminent

Fulham present no such problems to Sir Alex Ferguson and were seeking a striker to replace Clint Dempsey who has made it clear he does not want to play for the West London club again.

Berbatov flew back to London and the deal with Fulham was done.

Berbatov whose agent has also made initial contact with Major League Soccer will play in the EPL but not without his ex-future club slamming his reputation.

Clint Dempsey Signs for Spurs

FIORENTINA WEB STATEMENT

CF Fiorentina announces that the transfer deal for the player Dimitar Berbatov has definitely collapsed after an agreement with Manchester United had been reached (including the shared exchange of contracts, a first payment instalment processed and the financial guarantees for the second instalment ratified) and personal terms of the contract agreed verbally with the player.

Yesterday the English club had given their player written approval to travel to Florence for a medical and to sign his contract. The player and his agent got on a plane for Florence with tickets paid by Fiorentina. But he never arrived in Florence. This was down to the unconventional and arrogant actions of other clubs, who have nothing to do with fair play and sporting ethics that go even beyond the boundaries of fairness.

As for the player, regardless of his characteristics and value, we can deem ourselves happy he did not join Fiorentina: he did not deserve our city, he did not deserve to wear our jersey and the values that represent it.