Fergie Feels Berba Frustration

Sir Alex Ferguson admits he would understand if out-of-favour striker Dimitar Berbatov chose to leave Manchester United this summer.

The Bulgarian hitman finished last season as joint top Premier League goalscorer, but was forced to make many of his contributions as a substitute after taking a backseat to Ferguson's preferred strike partnership of Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez.

The ultimate blow for Berbatov came in May when he did not even make the bench for United's UEFA Champions League final meeting with Barcelona at Wembley.

With six strikers currently at his disposal, Ferguson has warned his attacking force to get used to being squad players next season as they bid to retain their league title.

But the manager realises that might not be enough to satisfy Berbatov, who has been linked with moves to Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain and Juventus.

He said: "I'd understand that (if he wanted to leave) but you could say that about them all.

"I don't pick the same team every week do I? I've only done that once in the last three years.

"So they all understand it's the squad that wins the games, wins the cups and I've got a good squad that will be used in exactly the same way.

"They've got to understand that now and they all do."

Ferguson admits he had no choice but to utilise Mexican striker Hernandez last season after he burst into United's first-team in blistering form.

He added: "The situation was straightforward. Chicharito hit such good form that you had to put him in every game, because he added so much in terms of threatening defenders all the time.

"It was just unfortunate for Berbatov. It didn't make him a bad player, he was just an unlucky player in that this lad came in. But that's football.

"But Dimitar, he's been brilliant, first class. His training has been terrific and he's a good type of person. A nice guy."

Berbatov will miss the second match of United's pre-season tour of the USA after picking up an ankle injury.

He sustained the problem during Monday's training session at Nike's plush HQ in Portland and was unable to join his team-mates as they went through their paces at CenturyLink field ahead of the friendly with the Seattle Sounders.

Although Berbatov's injury is described as 'a knock', at such an early stage of pre-season, Ferguson will not want to take any risks.