Manchester United confirm De Gea deal

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that a deal is in place to sign Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea.

The 20-year-old De Gea was one of many linked to United after Edwin Van der Sar announced his retirement from the game. Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed his signing after Gary Neville's testimonial against Juventus on Tuesday.

The deal is believed to be around the region of £16 million which is inclusive of a buy-out clause in De Gea's contract with Atletico.

De Gea made his debut at Atletico in 2009 at the tender age 18. He impressed enough to displace first choice keeper Sergio Asenjo and cement a starting berth. His career has been on the rise ever since a move to Premiership champions Manchester United is a just reward.

Ferguson said, We've been working on it for quite a while. We identified him quite a while back as one we should go for. He's a young goalkeeper, very quick, good composure, presence and an outstanding replacement for Van der Sar.

We were looking for the same type of qualities as Edwin, because the one great quality Edwin always had was his composure and organizational ability. With David De Gea, he is very similar that way.''

To put things into perspective, apart from Van der Sar, Ferguson hasn't been quite on the mark with his goalkeepers. Since the legendary Peter Schmeichel retired in 1999, only Van der Sar, who arrived in the summer of 2005, can be said to have filled his shoes sufficiently.

De Gea, who is the Spanish Under-21 international, was reportedly looking to move from Atletico for some time now. United privately expressed their interest to a few months ago.

However, United were inevitably linked to Maarten Stekelenburg, Hugo Lloris and Manuel Neuer despite the signing of Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard in January as a cover.

United will face Barcelona in the Champions League final on Saturday in what will be Van der Sar's last game of his career.