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UNITED'S pre-season injury crisis could force manager Sir Alex Ferguson to pay Tottenham's full £28m asking price for Dimitar Berbatov.
Fergie has revealed Wayne Rooney is unlikely to be ready for the Premier League kick-off as he struggles to shake off a virus picked up in Nigeria.
The England forward joins Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves on the list of players who look set to miss the start of United's defence of their Premier League crown.
If the on-off Berbatov saga does not come to a satisfactory conclusion for the Reds boss, he is ready to compete with neighbours City for Blackburn's in-demand South American hitman Roque Santa Cruz who he could land for £15m.
Ferguson said: "I'm starting to worry about whether we are going to have a team ready for the start of the season because Nani is suspended, Anderson is at the Olympics and I doubt if we will get Rooney fit after the virus he has had.
"He picked it up in Nigeria and it's not a nice one. It's 12 days until the season starts and he's not been able to train."
Rooney's likely absence has intensified United's need for extra firepower with Louis Saha also set to leave Old Trafford.
Suffered
As revealed in Friday's M.E.N. Sport, up to eight United players went down with the bug but Rooney clearly suffered most.
Ferguson identified a striker as a priority at the end of last season and has had a £20m bid for Berbatov rejected.
But he has been handed an unlikely boost in his bid for the Bulgarian hitman with City unwittingly pushing him closer than ever to Old Trafford.
With City defender Vedran Corluka expected to complete a £7m switch to White Hart Lane, Spurs must start to recoup some of their cash.
Juande Ramos has already spent £15m on David Bentley and still wants forwards with Euro 2008 stars David Villa, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko all in his sights.
And despite off-loading Robbie Keane to Liverpool for £20m, he will need the £28m from the sale of Berbatov to balance the books.
Spurs are resigned to losing the striker and are understood to be willing to do business with United once they have a replacement secured.
Meanwhile, West Ham are the latest club to be linked with Saha, who looks certain to leave Old Trafford this summer for Fulham or Sunderland.
Fergie has revealed Wayne Rooney is unlikely to be ready for the Premier League kick-off as he struggles to shake off a virus picked up in Nigeria.
The England forward joins Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves on the list of players who look set to miss the start of United's defence of their Premier League crown.
If the on-off Berbatov saga does not come to a satisfactory conclusion for the Reds boss, he is ready to compete with neighbours City for Blackburn's in-demand South American hitman Roque Santa Cruz who he could land for £15m.
Ferguson said: "I'm starting to worry about whether we are going to have a team ready for the start of the season because Nani is suspended, Anderson is at the Olympics and I doubt if we will get Rooney fit after the virus he has had.
"He picked it up in Nigeria and it's not a nice one. It's 12 days until the season starts and he's not been able to train."
Rooney's likely absence has intensified United's need for extra firepower with Louis Saha also set to leave Old Trafford.
Suffered
As revealed in Friday's M.E.N. Sport, up to eight United players went down with the bug but Rooney clearly suffered most.
Ferguson identified a striker as a priority at the end of last season and has had a £20m bid for Berbatov rejected.
But he has been handed an unlikely boost in his bid for the Bulgarian hitman with City unwittingly pushing him closer than ever to Old Trafford.
With City defender Vedran Corluka expected to complete a £7m switch to White Hart Lane, Spurs must start to recoup some of their cash.
Juande Ramos has already spent £15m on David Bentley and still wants forwards with Euro 2008 stars David Villa, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko all in his sights.
And despite off-loading Robbie Keane to Liverpool for £20m, he will need the £28m from the sale of Berbatov to balance the books.
Spurs are resigned to losing the striker and are understood to be willing to do business with United once they have a replacement secured.
Meanwhile, West Ham are the latest club to be linked with Saha, who looks certain to leave Old Trafford this summer for Fulham or Sunderland.
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