United sign van der Sar

Manchester United have reached agreement with Fulham over the signing of Edwin van der Sar for an undisclosed fee.

Van der Sar is United's first new signing since the club's takeover by Malcolm Glazer and he is likely to join the squad for next month's tour of the Far East.

He will become the latest in a long line of keepers to have been tried by manager Alex Ferguson since the loss of Peter Schmeichel in 1999.

Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Raimond van der Gouw, Fabien Barthez and Carroll have all come and gone while Ricardo’s contract expires this summer.

United’s other keeper, American Tim Howard, agreed a new contract to 2009 last month.

Van der Sar joined Fulham from Juventus for £5m (€7.4m) four years ago. United were involved in an acrimonious transfer deal with the Cottagers for Louis Saha last year but this deal appears to have been reached cordially.