Fergie close to netting De Gea

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Alex Ferguson is set to push his summer spending close to £50 million later this week when he completes the signing of goalkeeper David de Gea.

The Atletico Madrid star arrived in Manchester for a medical yesterday just three days after helping Spain U21s to victory in the European Championship in Denmark.

With United having opened negotiations with the Spanish club some weeks ago, it was only the highly-rated 20-year-old’s involvement in that tournament which held up the deal.

But with no problems expected with his medical De Gea is likely to complete his move, reported to be worth around £17m, in the next few days.

He will be the third new recruit at Old Trafford this month, following the arrival of Blackburn’s England U21 international Phil Jones and Aston Villa winger Ashley Young.

Ferguson hopes De Gea will be the long-term successor to Edwin van der Sar, who retired at the age of 40 at the end of last season.

The Scot’s recruitment of goalkeepers has not always been the best, with some notable outstanding successes but plenty of signings who have very quickly fallen by the wayside.

Having failed early on with Jim Leighton, Mark Bosnich and Les Sealey, he recruited Peter Schmeichel from Brondby for £550,000 in 1991 and the Denmark international went on to become one of the club’s greatest goalkeepers and certainly the best of the Premier League era.

However, the search for his replacement began in 1996 and did not find someone worthy of being placed in the same bracket as the Dane until Van der Sar was recruited from Fulham nine years later.

In that time the likes of Tony Coton, Raimond van der Gouw, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Roy Carroll, Ricardo, Tim Howard and Ben Foster were all recruited but failed to deliver the consistency Ferguson was hoping for.

The arrival of De Gea, aged just 20, adds instant quality with the promise of the realisation of greater potential.

Such is the Spaniard’s reputation that compatriot and Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina, who seems likely to face De Gea when the sides clash at Anfield on October 15, reacted positively to the player’s move.

“I very much welcome this news because David is a great keeper,” he said. “When it becomes official he is going to start working to prove in the Premier League what a good goalkeeper he is.”

Meanwhile, United winger Nani has welcomed Young to Old Trafford despite the threat the former Aston Villa man poses to his position.

The England international is second only to Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas for assists in the English top flight over the past five years.

On the eve of Young’s signing it was reported that Nani was perturbed and considering his options, but the Portuguese has insisted he is not concerned by the new arrival.

“Of course I have to welcome everyone they sign,” said Nani. “When they bring in new players, they know if it is good for the team or not, and this (Young signing) has to help them. It is good for the team — we want more (players) to help us to win trophies.”

Nani also said he had the fight in him to keep Young on the substitutes’ bench, pointing to his experience jostling for playing time with former United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I’ve been there (at United) when Cristiano was there,” Nani said. “Cristiano was one of the best players in the world.”