Dimitar Berbatov claims he was kidnapped in Bulgaria as ex-Man Utd striker opens up on terrifying experience which made him think he would die

Berbatov was appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast alongside his former United team-mate, speaking about a time when he was an up and coming 18-year-old with CSKA Sofia. One day, a fellow player drove him to a meeting with the boss of another club after being summoned.

"I was really showing what I can do on the pitch, really starting to show my qualities. Normally, when you show your quality as a player, teams will come for you, submit offers, ask how long you have as a contract, how much do you cost to buy, and stuff like that. Back home was more different. Back home was like, 'Him? All right, bring him here.

"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. Maybe I trusted him because we played in the same team. So I got into his car. He drove me to a restaurant. We got into the restaurant, and in the restaurant there were obviously tables. On one table, there was a guy by himself. On three other tables, there were big guys - refrigerators - typical Balkan guys sitting behind him, just looking and watching you scarily."

Berbatov recalled feeling intimidated by his sudden surroundings, not understanding what was going to happen.

"The guy who brought me there was like, 'Go over there, sit, I'll see you later.'" he said. "The [other] 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? I need to call my dad.' The guy started talking, 'Do you know what they call me? They call me the cook'.

"'We know about you. We need to change the team. We want you in our team. We need to get you.' I'm like, 'Yeah, but I'm playing in CSKA Sofia. I mean, I like it there.' 'We will figure that out. Don't worry about it.' The guys were sitting there and I'm just intimidated and thinking, 'I need to call my dad.'  So maybe two, three hours sitting there, and in the end, the guy let me call my dad, saying 'I'm here. I don't know where I am. The people around me, big guys.'"

Berbatov was concened that if he refused to do what the man at the table was asking, he'd soon be getting a beating...or worse.

"I was talking [to my dad] really fast, and he's like, ‘Calm down, breathe.' 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.' So eventually someone calls someone, and the big bosses of the two teams figure out a way of me not moving, just staying where I was.

"In that situation, 18 years old, seeing and knowing how things were done back then in Bulgaria, I was thinking to myself, this is it for me. I need to say yes, or maybe they're going to beat me, or I don't know. But eventually my dad came in and took me in the car, and I was like, 'Oh my God.' It made me realise I need[ed] to grow up quickly and be a man really early in my stage of life."

This was happening the late 1990s, with Berbatov eventually departing CSKA Sofia in 2001 when Bayer Leverkusen took him to Germany for just over €1 million. The gifted frontman wasn't an instant success but eventually proved himself, playing in the Champions League final in his first full season and going to score at a prolific rate. Tottenham came in for him in 2006, before Manchester United paid what was then a club record fee of £30.75 million two years later - Berbatov rejected an offer from nouveau riche Manchester City in order to go to Old Trafford, where he made 149 appearances over four seasons, won two Premier League titles and shared the 2010-11 Golden Boot.