Dimitar Berbatov is not a man given to verbal communication.
"He was so shy, I spoke three sentences to him in five years," remembers his former Bayer Leverkusen teammate Hans-Jorg Butt. "But he was superb, one of the best players I ever played with. With his potential, he could have been one of the best players in the world."
Berbatov, then 21, reached the Champions League final with the German side in 2002. In 2009 and 2011, he reached the final again with Manchester United only to lose to Barcelona. He was on the bench in Rome, but, despite being United's top scorer, didn't even make the bench at Wembley two years later. There was a doubt that he wasn't a big-game player.
"He took it badly and I felt rotten," recalled his manager at the time, Sir Alex Ferguson.
It was a major snub, but Berbatov kept an admirable silence.
But on Wednesday, Berbatov was obliged to speak to a television journalist on behalf of his current club, Monaco, after playing a starring, scoring role in his side's 3-1 win at Arsenal.
"How did you manage to make Arsenal look so ordinary and you look so good tonight?" asked the presenter on the pitch as the 2,000 Monaco fans celebrated.
"Because we are good," replied the Bulgarian.
Simple, accurate, brilliant. Tottenham and Manchester United fans were left to reminisce.
Berbatov had fine moments at both clubs, but his 20 goals in 24 starts for United in his final season, 2010-11, weren't as vital as the statistics suggest. He scored hat tricks against Liverpool and Birmingham, then five against Blackburn. He was a peripheral figure as the season developed with Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez as the principal partnership.
Against Arsenal, Berbatov's skills -- including his exquisite first touch -- were on fine display. "Berba sees the art and beauty of bringing a ball down from 30 yards, then flicking it through with a back-heel. It's an artistic approach," said his first team coach at United, Rene Meulensteen.
But Berbatov was considered too ponderous for Ferguson's plans, a footballer who never quite equalled the sum of his outrageous talents. Ferguson also said he was a player who wanted to be assured he was a great player -- tough to do when the manager wasn't starting him.
"Berbatov was surprisingly lacking in self-assurance," recalled Ferguson. "He never had the Eric Cantona or Andy Cole peacock quality, or the confidence of Teddy Sheringham."
Berbatov left for Fulham in 2012 for an undisclosed fee (and a huge loss) after 56 goals in 149 United games. It wasn't supposed to end like that for the Bulgarian. He was United's record 30.75 million-pound transfer fee from Tottenham Hotspur in 2008, a signing doubly celebrated as he'd chosen United over City. "He had talent in abundance: good balance, composure on the ball and a fine scoring record," said Ferguson. "He was a good age, tall, athletic. I felt we needed a bit more composure in the last third of the field."
Berbatov joined the European champions and made his debut in the month when another striker made his first United performance, Danny Welbeck. The pair, who could have still been playing for United, were on opposite sides at the Emirates on Wednesday, their fortunes contrasting. Welbeck lost possession to Almamy Toure, which led to Geoffrey Kondogbia's long-range opener.
With no European football this season, United fans gave the Arsenal vs. Monaco game more attention than usual.
One reason for Welbeck leaving Old Trafford was that he wanted to play more in his preferred central role. This was difficult with several strikers preferred to him in that role. With fewer goal-scoring opportunities, he was a goal scorer who seldom scored.
"Every striker will be judged on their goals," said Andy Cole, who was a fan of Welbeck's all-round game. But the former United man knew from experience that a high work rate and runs into space would not make up for a lack of end product. In 2012, Cole encouraged him to shoot more, to be more selfish. His point was valid. At the time, Welbeck's strike partner Wayne Rooney, was averaging 4.6 shots per game, Welbeck took just 2.7.
Welbeck was highly rated at United. In 2013, Rio Ferdinand said he'd choose Welbeck if he was only allowed to sign one United player. "I can see in a couple of years that he's going to be a top, top player," he said. "He's got speed, he's brave. He's got technique, heart and desire. Within two years I can see him adding the goals, the only thing missing from his game."
I spoke to Welbeck at the start of last season and he said he wanted to "score lots of goals and win lots of trophies." Neither came close to happening.
Welbeck played 142 games (29 goals) for United and was an extreme rarity, a striker who had risen from the academy to the first team, but a couple of years on from Ferdinand's comment, both Welbeck and Ferdinand are in London.
Welbeck was urged to push for a more central role, but Louis van Gaal told him that wouldn't be possible.
Many fans were sad to see a local, United-supporting lad leave, but the grass was greener, both for the United fans dazzled by bigger names and for Welbeck, who hoped for better fortunes in London.
Watching both Berbatov and Welbeck on Wednesday, some United fans may have wondered what might have been, but can't the same be said of every former player?