It’s eight years since Dimitar Berbatov played at the BayArena. He scored the winner for Tottenham that night and yet more remarkable was the scene that greeted his substitution. The applause of the Spurs fans was drowned out by the reception he received from Bayer Leverkusen supporters.

Once enjoyed; never forgotten. The Berbatov experience has left its mark on Leverkusen supporters. Lucio was the towering presence at the heart of the defence and the man who scored for the club in their Champions League final against Real Madrid in 2002, while Michael Ballack was the talismanic midfielder who took the team so close to an improbable treble that year.

But there on the fringes was Berbatov. Introduced as a substitute that night in Glasgow but someone who went on to score 97 goals for the club. The luxury player with the economy of movement. Like a waiter sashaying through a crowded kitchen with a tray of drinks, the merest hint of a dropped shoulder was enough to find the space he needed.

Perhaps this is how Berbatov will forever be remembered at Manchester United. Others at Old Trafford are admired for a 42-goal season or have a year celebrated in their honour – the Class of ’92 or the Team of ’99. For Berbatov it is an outrageous flick past James Collins to set up Cristiano Ronaldo in a routine home win over West Ham. Moments rather than months. Days not dynasties.

Unlike his former club, however, Berbatov remains active in the Champions League and is well placed to take Monaco into the knockout stages for the first time in a decade. That will be a source of amusement and delight to his fan club who appear to see the Bulgarian as a one-man debunking of the 10,000 hours of practice theory.

Veteran journalist Michael Calvin once described him as “perhaps the only footballer who could get away with playing in white tie and tails” and choosing Fulham over Juventus appeared to confirm the caricature – content to deliver fortnightly party tricks for the day-trippers at the Cottage rather than test himself amid the fervour that comes with playing for Italy’s most popular club.

Having turned up fashionably late at Monaco just as the gravy train was leaving town, it’s the sparse crowds of the Stade Louis II getting treated these days. Just 7,508 were there to witness his return from injury against Caen at the weekend. And yet, fans always felt like an unnecessary addition to the Berbatov spectacle – the quickening of the heartbeat that comes with a nervous crowd counter-productive for someone who plays with the calmness of the training ground.

Dimitar Berbatov signed for Manchester United in 2008 but was far from an unqualified success

These are the traits that once transfixed Sir Alex Ferguson enough to spirit him away from Manchester City for a price of £30million only to later deem him such a luxury he was left out of a Champions League final squad in the season he’d finished Premier League top scorer. Nobody puts Berba in the corner, least of all for the ghost of Michael Owen.

Even Ferguson, it seemed, had grown weary of his unique approach. An antagonising habit of being “inclined to walk when the attack broke down” ultimately proving too much for the United boss. But another line in Ferguson’s autobiography suggests appearances can be deceptive. “Berbatov was surprisingly lacking in self-assurance,” he claimed.

Mercurial figure in England

It highlights the danger in equating a style of player with a broader insouciance of character. As his old team-mate Lucio once pointed out, there has always been more to the story. “Berbatov told us that he was so poor as a kid in Bulgaria that he grew up playing football with a basketball he found in a skip,” said Lucio. “But you would never guess it when you see how good his first touch is.

“Every summer he goes home and sleeps on his mother’s couch back in Bulgaria. He is not interested in holidaying in Miami or Monaco – he just wants to go home to his mother. He was always so excited when he scored a goal because he knew his mother would text him and he couldn’t wait to rush back into the dressing room and see it.” Lucio added: “The most important thing to him - even more important than football - is the work he does with orphans back in Bulgaria.”

Celebrating with his team-mates at Monaco

That Berbatov has since signed for Monaco only emphasises the contradiction that he’s become. Even that languid gait betrays considerable pace – as shown in the summer when he was seen outrunning Radamel Falcao in a series of sprint drills. A fairly unremarkable feat that nevertheless caused a social media storm.

The stroller who can sprint. The peacock who lacks confidence. The boy from Bulgarian poverty now making his home in Monaco. Berbatov’s tale is more nuanced than it might seem and as his career reaches its latter stages it should be acknowledged that everyone shows determination in their own way. The 33-year-old’s presence at the BayArena on Wednesday evening when the Champions League music blares out is evidence enough of his dedication.

So while Mario Balotelli endures the limelight that comes with being English football’s greatest frustration, the man who once carried that burden will be lurking behind the Sky Sports Red Button. Proof that there is life after the groans and that there is joy still to be had. Even if it’s just in a fleeting glimpse of magic.

Watch Bayer Leverkusen v Monaco on the Sky Sports Red Button this Wednesday (kick off 7.45pm)