Ex-Man Utd star Dimitar Berbatov details kidnapping by gangsters - 'I thought that was it'

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Former Manchester United and Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov was once held hostage in a bid to force him to swap clubs.

The former Bulgaria international was just a teenage in his homeland, plying his trade for CSKA Sofia when the incident happened. Berbatov, who joined United from Spurs for £30.75m in 2008, was taken to a restaurant by a team-mate after training, Once there, he was accosted by a group of men - believed to be henchmen of gangster Georgi Iliev - and held captive for several hours as they looked to force him to move to a rival.

Berbatov, who starred in the Premier League , also appearing for Fulham , told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast: "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 teammate 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.'

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"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.'

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"And I'm like, 'what the f**k? 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, you 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."

Listen to the full Rio Meets Dimitar Berbatov interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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