When Dimitar Berbatov was playing for Tottenham, I used to love watching him play. Great skill, flair, technique and an eye for goal were all things that set him on a level above the normal run-of-the-mill player.

I thought he’d look even better in the Red of Manchester United.

Dimitar Berbatov

When I heard that we were seriously interested in buying him, I was delighted and I didn’t hear very many other Manchester United fans complaining at the time either.

For one reason or another, it just didn’t quite seem to happen for him in his first season here. Yes, the great control was still there, the occasional bit of skill that had you shaking your head in disbelief and the ability to maintain possession despite being surrounded by two or three opposing players were his main attributes.

But these weren’t really what we had signed him for. He was supposed to be the player who would sprinkle a bit of magic dust in those games where we simply can’t seem to buy a goal. Either by scoring the wonder goal himself or by producing something from nothing that splits the opposition in two.

By and large, he didn’t succeed at either last season and it was starting to look like Veron Mk II.

We had been told by Fergie that he needed time to settle in and that last season wasn’t ideal for him because he didn’t get a full pre-season with us having signed right at the last minute on deadline day of the transfer window (I wonder if Fergie was singing, “Dimi Dimi Dimi a Berb before midnight”? Probably not).

No such excuses would be available this season. He’s had more than enough time to settle in now and he did have a full pre-season with us. The time had come for Berby to deliver.

Just for the record, I would like to state that I have never been on the anti-Berbatov bandwagon. I think he’s a great player.

You could probably drop a ball from a plane and he would still bring it down and under control in the blink of an eye. Watch how often he gets tackled too… very, very rarely. He has the ability to keep the ball under his spell despite pressure from the opposition and even when he gets himself into a corner, he is usually cute enough to get himself a free-kick from the situation.

However, I do feel that his overall form has suffered because, despite the confident and blasé exterior, I think there’s a guy underneath who feels somewhat burdened by the weight of expectation placed upon him. Had he cost us a couple of million, he would have probably been much better already but £30 Million is serious money and I think he has felt the need to justify it even though the fee agreed between United and Spurs was something totally outside of his control.

All we really wanted was for him to play just as he had played for Spurs.

I think last night’s match against Wolfsburg saw a new Berbatov. Or, rather, the old Berbatov back again. Everything about his performance was pure quality. No he didn’t score a goal (and in the final reckoning, there will be some people who will judge his career by the number of goals he scores, unfortunately) but he put himself about and produced some moments of magic that had the crowd cooing.

I hope it wasn’t a flash in the pan, that he has finally freed himself of the self-imposed shackles and he finally shows the doubters that he not only belongs on the Old Trafford stage – he owns the Old Trafford stage.