Manchester United will exercise their option to extend Dimitar Berbatov's contract

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that the club will extend the contract of Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian striker's contract was set to end at this season's end but United will exercise their option to extend that contract until the end of the 2012-13 season. The move is hardly unexpected and not very much should be read into the move. If Berbatov is to be sold -- the latest rumor involves Bayer Leverkusen -- this simply gives United a bit more leverage in negotiations. If a club knows that Berbatov's contract ends in six months, they simply could wait to snatch up Berbatov on a free transfer in the upcoming summer -- or use that leverage to buy him on the cheap. However, if a buying club is forced to wait 18 months for his contract to end, then United could use that leverage to extract a higher transfer fee. There is also the possibility that Fergie would like to keep him around so that he has adequate depth at striker -- this past week's 4 goal explosion by Berbatov shows that he still has tremendous quality and that he is quite useful for squad rotation. However, there are certainly many who feel that his talent is being wasted at United by not featuring regularly. The club already features talisman Wayne Rooney at striker along with youngsters Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) and Danny Welbeck -- all of whom are higher up on the pecking order at the current moment. Here is what Fergie had to say about Berbatov:

"We'll be exercising (the option to renew],I think it kicks in in March."

Source: ManUtd.com