Berbatov will cost record fee - Ramos

12 April 2012

Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos has warned potential bidders for Dimitar Berbatov that they would have to break the British transfer record to sign the striker.

Manchester United and Chelsea have been linked with a move for the Bulgaria international, who has scored 11 times this season, and Ramos believes his player commands a bigger fee than the cost of bringing Andriy Shevchenko to Stamford Bridge, which is valued around the £30million mark.

"I think a club would have to break the British transfer record to sign Berbatov," said Ramos. "At this moment Berbatov's value is more than this price. At least that is what we think. But everyone has a price. The intention of Tottenham is not to sell the player."

He added: "It's not a question for me if a club can pay this. The other clubs will know what they need for their squads. But it's normal that for a player of this level they would have to pay such an amount because there are very few players of his class.

"Unless something strange happens - and I think it will not happen - there's not going to be a club that will pay the price that Tottenham could accept."

The decision on whether Berbatov would be allowed to go is not down to Ramos, but the Spaniard's valuation of his striker stems from rating him as the finest player not currently involved in the Champions League.

"The truth is that I understand perfectly why he would cost so much money because there are few players like Berbatov," he said.

"And those who do exist play for great teams who play in the Champions League. And those great teams will not sell their players. He's the only great player who has not played in the Champions League that they could sign."

A bid of more than £30million would represent a healthy profit on the £10.9million Spurs paid Bayer Leverkusen at the start of last season, and it would also cancel out the bulk of the summer spending.

Despite his intentions, Ramos accepts the final decision will be made by chairman Daniel Levy, although Levy has made encouraging statements this week and insists the club will only be involved in "essential" deals.

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