Spaniard David De Gea is expected to finally rubber-stamp his £17.8million switch to Manchester United after arriving at Bridgewater Hospital on Monday for his medical.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper has been photographed arriving at a local hospital ahead of a proposed move to Manchester United.
United's new shot-stopper
Although Ferguson considered deals for Manuel Neuer, who chose to join Bayern Munich, and Maarten Stekelenburg, who is heading for Roma, De Gea quickly emerged as his No 1 target.
De Gea resembles a young Van der Sar, and arrives to replace the Dutchman, who retired at the end of the season after a six-year spell at Old Trafford in which he won four Premier League titles, the Champions League and League Cup.
The 21-year-old, who is rated as one of the two best shot-stoppers in Europe, along with German Manuel Neuer, helped Spain to European Under-21 Championship success at the weekend.
The 6’4″ Madrid native goalkeeper spent his first professional season with Ateltico Madrid reserves, in the Segunda Division B. In September 2009 he made his senior Atletico debut as a substitute in the Champions League against Porto and in October same year he made his first start in Primera Division where he managed to give away and then save a penalty in the first 20 minutes of a game.
Towards the end of the 2009-10 season he became the first-choice goalkeeper under new coach Quique Sanchez Flores, twice earning man-of-the-match awards towards the end of the season.
He currently lies behind Iker Casillas, Pep Reina and Victor Valdes in the senior Spain pecking order.
If the deal goes through, De Gea will surely become United’s first-choice keeper, ahead of Tomasz Kuszczak, Anders Lindegaard and Ben Amos.
With Van der Sar, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville retired, an injection of new blood was needed at Old Trafford to fend off a renewed challenge from big spenders Chelsea, Liverpool and local rivals Manchester City.
Ferguson has already recruited England pair Ashley Young and Phil Jones – from Aston Villa and Blackburn respectively – for a combined fee of £32.5m.
With the transfer of young Spaniard, worth around £18 million, legendary Scot will break through the £50m barrier this summer.
Tags: Alex Ferguson, Ashley Young, Atletico Madrid, David de Gea, Edwin Van Der Sar, Gary Neville, Manchester United, Manuel Neuer, Paul Scholes, Spain
Leave A Reply (No comments So Far)
No comments yet