Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, the two main reasons that made Tottenham’s attack so feared in recent seasons, have both said they wanted to leave the club before the summer transfer window closes on August 31. They will not if Spurs chairperson Daniel Levy has anything to say about it.

The White Hart Lane club has submitted to the English Premier League a thick file of evidence describing Manchester United and its manager Alex Ferguson’s pursuit of the Bulgarian national football captain over the past season. The case goes beyond a recent interview in which Ferguson was misquoted as saying that the Manchester club has made a bid for the Bulgarian striker, Tottenham is believed to have argued. Unsettling players under contract with another club, which is what Spurs say the reigning champions of Europe are guilty of, is against both FIFA and Football Association rules. The rules require that the bidding club register their interest first with the club to which the player is contracted.

According to reports in British press, Levy accused Ferguson of “sheer arrogance” and “hypocrisy”, given the way in which United’s manager has complained of Real Madrid’s campaign to persuade Christiano Ronaldo to move to Spain.

Berbatov has not come out in public to say that he wanted to leave the London club, but his agent Emil Danchev has been agitating for a move and recently confirmed that Manchester United renewed their interest in the Bulgarian’s services. Berbatov has said more than once that he resisted a last-minute attempt by United to hijack the deal that took him to Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006, but he is now believed to be in favour of moving clubs as he seeks to play in the Champions League again.

With the relationship between the two clubs souring in recent months, it would likely take a bid of more than 30 million pounds to persuade Spurs to let go of their most prized asset. Berbatov’s hopes of securing a move are not helped by the fact that he still has two seasons left on his deal, which has a clause that allows Tottenham to extend it by two further years.

Losing one top scorer is bad enough, but the White Hart Lane brass is facing the prospect of a second high-profile departure this summer, with captain Robbie Keane reportedly interested in joining Liverpool, the team he supported as a boy. Spurs put a price tag of 20 million pounds on the Irishman, which Liverpool’s Spanish manager Rafael Benitez appears willing to meet. As a consequence, while Levy criticised the Merseysiders for their bid unsettling Keane, his tone was a lot milder.

As far as Berbatov is concerned, should his strike partner move to Liverpool in the near future, which is what reports in England have claimed in recent days, the chances that Spurs would let him go as well appear rather slim.