Manchester United fending off apparent interest from Barcelona to land Bruno Fernandes is great news for the club, but Dimitar Berbatov says it is going to take much more than “one man to turn things around”.
The Red Devils have wrapped up a €55 million (£47m/$60m) deal for the Portugal international midfielder.
At the end of a protracted saga, a highly-rated 25-year-old has been added to the engine room of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
As questions were beginning to be asked of whether a deal would ever be done by United, reports claimed Barcelona had entered the race for Fernandes.
United eventually got their man and while that must be considered a positive show of intent, Berbatov feels further funds are required in order to wake a sleeping giant from its slumber.
The former Red Devils striker told Betfair: “It's a big signing and United have paid a lot of money for Bruno Fernandes and I hope he will give the team a boost, but to rely on just one man to turn things around is going to make things difficult.
“I would like to be proven wrong and of course I want him to do well but it's foolish just to rely on him. It shows intent from United and I hope they buy someone else.
“He is joining up with a young, great team, and the players that are there will see that effort is being made to improve the quality of the side, and I'm sure they will want to up their game and impress, especially the midfield players because they have competition now and I'm sure they will be telling themselves that they need to put more effort in during training and matches.”
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Berbatov added on Fernandes, who has become the latest Portuguese star to try and make an impression at Old Trafford: “He is following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani and I hope he makes the same impact that both those players did.
“I mean what can you say about Ronaldo that hasn't been already said? When I shared the changing room with him he was always a great professional, he had a great work ethic and he was a great lad as well. He could take a joke and give it back.
“At first it was a bit difficult for Nani because he was playing in a similar position to Cristiano, but he held his own when he needed to.
“I heard rumours that Barcelona were also interested in signing him, and if that was the case he has shown that he prefers United so he must have seen something he liked.
“He's going to play but he is a big-money signing and now he needs to justify to the club why he is worth so much.
“He doesn't need to think about the price and as a midfield player I don't think he needs to focus on scoring goals, his purpose is to control games, get assists and help his team-mates and the most important thing is to get into the rhythm of the Premier League.”
Fernandes could make his bow for United in a meeting with Wolves on Saturday, with Solskjaer having conceded that a new arrival will come straight into contention for a starting berth.
