Dimitar Berbatov's difficult first year at Manchester United has taken another unexpected turn after it emerged that CSKA Sofia, his first club, are suing the Premier League champions for money they claim is owed for the development of the player.
The Bulgarian club have filed a lawsuit with Fifa and hired the international sports lawyer Professor Ian Blackstock to fight for what is known as a "solidarity" payment out of Berbatov's £30.75m transfer from Tottenham Hotspur on 1 September last year.
Fifa introduced this payment in 2001 so that clubs who had developed players from a young age were compensated when the player had big-money moves later and CSKA claim United owe them around £475,000. The two clubs have been unable to settle the dispute and CSKA have now asked for Fifa to intervene, with a hearing likely to take place in Zurich towards the end of June.
Berbatov, capped 68 times by Bulgaria, left CSKA for Bayer Leverkusen in 2001 and subsequently moved to Tottenham for £10.75m in the summer of 2006.
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