Featured Image Credit: YOUTUBE / Rio Ferdinand Presents
Topics: Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United, Football, Premier League, Rio Ferdinand
Ben McCrum
Topics: Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United, Football, Premier League, Rio Ferdinand
Manchester United legend Dimitar Berbatov has revealed that he was once kidnapped as a teenage rafter a club tried to sign him in Bulgaria.
Former Manchester United star Berbatov spent four years at Old Trafford, scoring 56 times in 149 appearances under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson and winning two Premier League titles.
The striker quickly became a fan-favourite amongst United fans and is often remembered for winning the Premier League Golden Boot or his hat-trick against Liverpool in September 2010.
But things weren't always great for Berbatov, as he's recently opened up about the “tough, tough times” he had to go through while living in his home country Bulgaria.
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And in an interview with former United teammate Rio Ferdinand, he even revealed that he was once kidnapped during his youth in an attempt to force him to join a new club.
Opening up about the situation during an episode of Rio Ferdinand Presents, Berbatov revealed that while he was just 18 years old and playing for CSKA Sofia, a team-mate too him to a group of intimating men who tried to convince him to leave the club.
“It was tough, tough times back home. Different gangs," Berbatov admitted
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“Because some of the things that for you probably are going to sound unbelievable. For me, it was like nothing special happened. You were just part of life back in the day.
“I was really showing what I can do on the pitch, I was playing for CSKA Sofia and I was really starting to show my qualities.
“After training, I didn’t have a car. So a team-mate of mine, he was like, ‘Come with me, I need to bring you to a friend of mine.’
“I was a bit naive, of course, and maybe I trusted him because we played in the same team. So I get into his car. He drove me to a place, to a restaurant.
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“We get into the restaurant, and in the restaurant there were obviously tables. And on one table, there was a guy by himself. And on three other tables, there were big guys, like big guys, refrigerators, typical Balkan guys sitting behind him, just looking scary and just watching you.
“The guy was like, ‘Come here, sit down’” I’m sitting down, and it’s like, thinking to myself in my mind, ‘What is going on? What is going on? I need to call my dad, I need to call my dad’.’
“[He said] ‘So we know about you. We need to change the team. We want you in our team. We need to get you’. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I’m playing in CSKA Sofia. I mean, I like it there.’ [He said] ‘We will figure that out. Don’t worry about it.'”
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Eventually, after three hours, Berbatov was able to phone his dad, who tried to reassure his son that things would be alright and that he just needed to calm down and breathe.
Berbatov added: "And I’m like, ‘What the f***? They’re going to kidnap me here and I don’t want to go, I want to go home.’ And he’s like, ‘Ok, Ok. Let me see what I can do. I’ll call the guy.’
Eventually Berbatov was allowed to stay at his club and his dad able to come and collect him from the restaurant and take him to safety.
But the former United star admitted that the situation had him fearing the worst, as he admitted: “I was thinking to myself, ‘this is it for me. I need to say yes, or maybe they’re going to beat me’.
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"Makes me realise I need to grow up quick and be a man really early in my stage of life.”