Milan join the race for Spurs striker Berbatov

10:58am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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EUROPEAN giants AC Milan have joined Real Madrid and Barcelona in the race to sign Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov.

The Daily Mail reported that the San Siro club have indicated that they are ready to enter into negotiations with Tottenham for the Bulgarian forward.

Speculation about a move away from White Hart Lane was fuelled by the club as the striker was excluded from the team's new kit launch, with Robbie Keane, Jonathan Woodgate and Jermaine Jenas instead posing for the cameras, despite Berbatov being the club's most marketable player.

The 27-year-old cost Spurs £10.9million when he signed from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006, and the club look set to make a sizeable profit from the sale of the player as his stock has risen greatly after two excellent seasons at the Lane.

Manchester United and Chelsea have been continually linked with Berbatov, but Milan have made the greatest strides to sign the player after showing their hand early on. However it is understood Tottenham would prefer to sell the player to Barcelona, with the overriding factor being a potential swap deal with Samuel Eto'o moving in the other direction.

Berbatov is desperate to play in the Champions League, and both Barcelona and Milan can guarantee that, although the forward has already spoken out about interest from the Italian outfit.

In an interview in Bulgaria last month he said: "There is some interest on the part of the Italian club, that's all I can say. I'll be flattered to go to talks with them."

Juande Ramos is resigned to losing his prize asset, but with Luka Modric already on board and Seville's Diego Capel and Portsmouth's Lassana Diarra also thought to be on the Spaniard's radar, the manager is already planning for Berbatov's departure.

Ramos will turn to former club Seville for Capel's signature, and may take advantage of the player's £11.5million buy-out clause.