Berbatov troubled by knee pain

Sir Alex Ferguson has once again raised the spectre of Dimitar Berbatov heading for a knee operation.

Manchester United's record signing opened the scoring in Saturday's 3-0 win over Burnley at Old Trafford but left the action early. And Ferguson confirmed the Bulgarian had reported more pain from a knee injury which the £30.75million striker had vowed to battle through.

"Dimitar was feeling his knee again," confirmed Ferguson.

"He played through it but he could have come off at half-time. We will have to look at it again on Monday and see what the situation is."

If Berbatov is forced to go for surgery it will either mean another venture into the transfer market or even more responsibility being placed on the shoulders of Wayne Rooney. It would be a shame too for Ferguson, given how impressed he was with the Bulgarian's efforts.

"He was the player who looked most like scoring," he said.

"A couple of shots went just by the post, he also had a couple of headers over the bar. He had so many attempts he was probably relieved to get one in the end."

New Burnley manager Brian Laws felt a miss from David Nugent was the crucial point of the game, although that will not stop him trying to secure the services of the Portsmouth striker, who is currently on loan at Turf Moor.

"Hopefully something will happen in the next 48 hours. The club have been trying to keep David for some time and I know enough about him to want him to stay," said Laws.

"It is a simple equation really. He either stays with us or Portsmouth sell him. He cannot go on loan anywhere else."