Aston Villa could still end up signing Dimitar Berbatov

Most fans would have told you that Aston Villa could have used a new striker before the close of today's transfer deadline. But Emmanuel Adebayor never came through and Dimitar Berbatov couldn't agree with Villa on a wage package. The former seems like a burned bridge, but there is still a chance that the latter could wear claret and blue this year.

From what I can tell, no other clubs are seriously looking at Berbatov in any capacity. The deadline for Premier League clubs to submit the squad lists is Thursday at 5 PM, and if Berbatov wants to play before January he might cave on his wage demands to Villa just to be included somewhere. As he's a free agent, Berbatov wasn't required to have a deal finished by the deadline today.

Of course this relies on the Bulgarian striker wanting to play badly enough to capitulate in his demands, but it's not absurd to think that he might do just that. He's currently without a club, and simply taking a pay cut could change that for him.

I'm not sure how likely the whole situation is, as I have no idea how negotiations between the parties went. But if things were amicable, it wouldn't totally surprise me to see Berbatov holding up a Villa kit before Thursday.