West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has revealed that the club was interested in signing Dimitar Berbatov but they could not afford his salary.

Berbatov, who eventually went to Fulham, is reportedly the highest-paid player in the West London club's history. Allardyce believes that the sales that the Cottagers had already made meant that they could stretch their budget to include Berbatov.

"We couldn't afford him," Allardyce told Sky Sports News. "The problem was the transfer fee and the size of the salary was out of our domain this season in terms of our budget.

"Fulham created their own transfer funds. They knew Clint Dempsey was moving on, and one or two others, and that gave them the opportunity to go big."

Berbatov netted twice for Fulham yesterday in his first start for his new club.