Bournemouth hope to celebrate their promotion to the Premier League by luring Dimitar Berbatov back to England in the summer.
The Cherries clinched the Championship title on the final day of this season, meaning they will feature in the top-flight for the first time in their history next term. Although Eddie Howe is keen to give the players who have served him so well a chance to test their quality against the best England has to offer, he will also accept that he will need to add to his squad in the summer.
And according to The Express, the Goldsands Stadium club are plotting an ambitious bid to lure Berbatov back to England ahead of the 2015/16 campaign. The Bulgarian is currently plying his trade for Monaco, but the French club have recently been fined £9.5million for breaching UEFA financial rules and will be restricted to naming just 22 players in their first team squad next term.
This has cast question marks over the future of Berbatov, who has scored 12 goals in 38 Ligue 1 matches since his arrival from Fulham last January, and it is believed the 34-year-old is keen to return to the Premier League. Monaco could be forced to release the forward on a free transfer, but Bournemouth may have to find as much as £100,000-per-week to land his signature.
Berbatov first arrived in England when Tottenham Hotspur paid Bayer Leverkusen £10.9million for his services in 2006. He spent two years at White Hart Lane before moving to Manchester United in a £30million deal, and he had a hugely successful spell at Old Trafford during which time he won two Premier League titles and a League Cup before leaving for Fulham in 2012.
Is Dimitar Berbatov the type of player Bournemouth should be looking for, or do they need a player who is more likely to work his socks off for the cause?
