The 27-year-old has handed in a transfer request to Spurs and wants to join United, with his departure appearing inevitable after head coach Juande Ramos deemed him unfocused to face Sunderland.

Ramos also feared Berbatov was having a negative effect on the dressing room, which suggests there may be no way back for the Bulgaria international who was signed two seasons ago for £10.9million from Bayer Leverkusen.

Spurs would be expected to receive more than double that amount but there has been no official bid since a £20.5million offer was turned down earlier this month.

It is understood the clubs are working towards closing a £10million gap in their respective valuations of the player, whose departure would leave Ramos with one out-and-out striker.

Jermain Defoe was sold to Portsmouth at the start of the year and Robbie Keane left for Liverpool this summer, and Spurs would ideally want to bring in a striker before allowing Berbatov to leave.

Zenit St Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin has been consistently linked, while Wigan's Emile Heskey has been reported this weekend as a potential target.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy was furious when Keane and Berbatov made it clear they wanted to leave White Hart Lane and filed an official complaint with the Premier League.

Spurs dropped the complaint against Liverpool when they signed Keane and made a donation to charity, and United may expect the same treatment if a deal is struck for Berbatov.

Berbatov, meanwhile, could be fined for not being in the right state of mind to play against Sunderland, who took full advantage and defeated Spurs 2-1.