Soccer:Manchester United have confirmed David de Gea is to join them on a five-year contract. De Gea flew to Manchester on Monday for a medical and although the deal is still to be completed, he has agreed to leave Atletico Madrid for Old Trafford and take Alex Ferguson's summer spending beyond €50 million.
The 20-year-old is rated as one of the brightest prospects in the game and Ferguson has no fears De Gea will be able to fill the void left by Edwin van der Sar’s retirement.
De Gea — a European Championship winner with Spain’s Under-21s on Saturday — will be the third new arrival at Old Trafford this summer following the signings of Phil Jones and Ashley Young earlier this month.
A product of Atletico’s youth academy, De Gea spent his first professional season with the club’s reserves in the Segunda Division B before making his senior debut as a substitute in the Champions League against Porto in September 2009.
He became first-choice stopper towards the end of the 2009-10 campaign under new coach Quique Sanchez Flores and played in the Europa League final victory over Fulham in Hamburg.
Ferguson revealed a month ago United had been working on a deal to sign De Gea for “quite a while” and although the youngster denied at the time an agreement had been finalised, the completion of his transfer now appears to be imminent.
