Dimitar Berbatov

By Craig · Published 27 October 2026

Dimitar Berbatov is a Bulgarian striker who scored 94 Premier League goals for Tottenham, Manchester United and Fulham. He won the Golden Boot in 2011 and scored five in one game against Blackburn, the first player from outside England to do so.

Clubs

CSKA Sofia (1998 to 2001), Bayer Leverkusen (2001 to 2006), Tottenham Hotspur (2006 to 2008), Manchester United (2008 to 2012), Fulham (2012 to 2014), Monaco (2014 to 2015), PAOK (2015 to 2016), Kerala Blasters (2017 to 2018)

Premier League

229 appearances, 94 goals

Honours

Premier League 2009 and 2011, League Cup 2008 and 2010, Club World Cup 2008, Premier League Golden Boot 2010/11, PFA Team of the Year 2007 and 2011, Tottenham Player of the Year 2007

International

Bulgaria, 78 caps, 48 goals, the national record

Fantasy price

£10.0m in 2010/11

Who did he play for?

He scored 69 Bundesliga goals in five seasons at Bayer Leverkusen. Tottenham paid about £10.9 million for him in July 2006, a record for a Bulgarian player.

He scored 12 league goals in his first season and 15 in his second, was the club's player of the year in 2007 and in the PFA Team of the Year, and scored the equalising penalty in the 2008 League Cup final against Chelsea. He and Robbie Keane scored around 90 goals between them in two seasons.

On deadline day, 1 September 2008, Manchester United paid £30.75 million for him after Tottenham had accepted a bid from Manchester City. Alex Ferguson met him off the plane at Manchester airport. He won the league in 2009 and 2011 and the Club World Cup in 2008, scored 20 league goals in 2010/11 to share the Golden Boot, and was left out of the squad for the 2011 Champions League final.

Fulham signed him in August 2012 for about £5 million. He scored 15 league goals in his first season and was their player of the season, then left for Monaco in January 2014. He retired in 2019 after spells in Greece and India.

For Bulgaria he scored 48 goals in 78 games, the national record, and was the country's footballer of the year seven times.

The moment: Blackburn, 27 November 2010

Old Trafford, Saturday 27 November 2010. Manchester United 7-1 Blackburn Rovers. He had gone ten games without a goal.

He scored after two minutes from a Nani cross, added a second before half-time after a short back-pass to Paul Robinson, and completed his hat-trick two minutes after the restart from inside the box. Tap-ins on 62 and 70 minutes made it five. Park Ji-sung and Nani scored the others and Christopher Samba headed Blackburn's goal.

He was the fourth player to score five in a Premier League game, after Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe.

Two months earlier, on 19 September 2010, he had scored a hat-trick against Liverpool, the first by a United player against them since 1946, including an overhead kick in off the bar from Nani's cross.

Why the streets won't forget

The touch against West Ham on 29 October 2008: chasing a pass to the byline, he controlled it, turned James Collins inside out in one movement and crossed for Cristiano Ronaldo to score from three yards. He said later his first thought was whether everyone had seen it.

On signing for United he said he was 27 and this was his time.

He runs the Dimitar Berbatov Foundation in Bulgaria and still turns out in legends matches for United and Tottenham.

Which seasons can you draft him in?

Seven. His last United season, 2011/12, when he played 12 league games, doesn't make the game's squads.

In 2010/11 he is the league's joint top scorer at £10.0m. In 2012/13 he is 15 goals for £8.0m in a Fulham side that finished 12th.

Want him in your retro fantasy football team for 2010/11? He'll cost you £10.0m.