Copyright manchestereveningnews
Dimitar Berbatov has opened up on how he was once kidnapped and held hostage in a restaurant in an attempt to coerce him into switching clubs. Berbatov was a youngster establishing himself at CSKA Sofia when the episode occurred. Aged 18, he was driven to a restaurant by a team-mate following training and detained for several hours by a group of individuals who wanted him to sign for a competing club instead. Berbatov, who later represented Bulgaria, Tottenham and Manchester United , unveiled the extraordinary incident whilst appearing on Rio Ferdinand's Rio Presents podcast . He explained: "I was playing for CSKA Sofia and I was really starting to show my qualities. And normally, when you show your quality as a player, teams will come for you, submit offers, ask, you know, how long do you have as a contract, how much do you cost to buy, and stuff like this. "But back home was more different. Back home it was like, 'Him? All right, bring him here.' I didn't have a car. So a team-mate of mine, after training, he was like, 'Come with me, I need to bring you to a friend of mine.' "And I was a bit naive, of course. And maybe I trusted him because we played in the same team. So I get into his car. He drove me to a restaurant. "We get into the restaurant, and in the restaurant there were obviously tables. And on one table, there was a guy by himself. And on three other tables, there were big guys, refrigerators, typical Balkan guys sitting behind him, just looking scary. And the guy who brought me there was like, 'Go over there, sit, I'll see you later.' And the 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? What is going on? I need to call my dad, I need to call my dad.' "And the guy started talking. He's like, 'Do you know what they call me?' Now, in English, it's going to be like, the word probably is going to be, they call me the cook. "I'm like, all right. 'So we know about you. We need to change the team. We want you in our team. We need to get you.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but I'm playing in CSKA Sofia. I mean, I like it there.'" "He said, 'We will figure that out. Don't worry about it.' And the guys were sitting there and I'm just like this, you know, intimidated, of course. "So maybe two, three hours sitting there, and in the end, the guy let me call my dad. And I'm like calling my dad, 'I'm here. I don't know where I am. You know, the people around me, big guys.' You know, I was talking really fast, and he's like, 'Calm down, breathe. Like, just calm down and just breathe.' "And 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. "And 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. 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.' Makes me realise I need to grow up quick and be a man really early in my stage of life." Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis. Make sure you don't miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day's biggest stories. And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts , and you can also watch along on YouTube .
