Manchester United Agree £17.5m Deal to Sign Atletico Madrid Keeper David De Gea: Spanish Press Claim La Liga side Have Accepted Offer

Old Trafford club to seal signing of promising Spaniard.

Manchester United have reportedly agreed a deal with Atletico Madrid to sign young keeper David De Gea this summer, according to reports in the Spanish press today. Sir Alex Ferguson has sent scouts to monitor the talented 20 year as the Old Trafford side look to replace Edwin van der Sar who is set to hang up his gloves and retire from the game this summer.

Spanish publication Sport suggests that a deal has been agreed between the two sides that will see the Spanish Under 21 international join Manchester United for a fee of €20m (£17.5m) dependent on the Madrid born goalie agreeing personal terms with the Premier League table toppers.

De Gea has shown maturity beyond his years to become the first choice custodian at the Vicente Calderon and helped his side to clinch the Europa League in his first season at the club last term. Ferguson has been linked to a myriad of potential replacements for Van der Sar with the likes of Manuel Neuer, Hugo Lloris, Maarten Stekelenburg and Liverpool’s Pepe Reina often being mentioned as possible purchases.

Atletico Madrid are reportedly in something of a financial predicament that has led to much speculation that some of their top talents may be offloaded this summer with the likes of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan linked with big money exits and the fact that Quique Sánchez Flores’s side are currently languishing in eight place and could miss out on European football altogether next term may force the club to sell to balance the books.

Manchester United brought in Anders Lindegaard as further back up and there has been much speculation that Tomasz Kuszczak will leave in the summer. Sir Alex Ferguson has been looking at bringing in top young talent to help build a new generation of players to mix with those coming through the youth ranks and the purchases of Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling appear to have paid off and David De Gea is seen by many as an ideal long term replacement for Edwin Van der Sar.

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Capello under heavy fire from English press

Fabio Capello has come under attack once more from the English press ahead of Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Wales.

Capello faced fierce calls for his resignation after the poor showing at the World Cup last summer, and many newspapers have been heavily critical of the way he handled the reinstatement of John Terry as captain.

Capello acknowledged in his press conference on Friday that he had "regrets" over the way the situation unfolded but, on Saturday morning, there seemed little acceptance of the apology.

In The Sun, which has been at the forefront of the recent attacks on Capello, the headline reads 'Confusion reigns large in the bizarre world of Fab'.

"Yesterday's press conference in Cardiff was supposed to answer many of the questions surrounding the switch in captaincy from Rio Ferdinand to John Terry," Steven Howard writes. "Instead, it was like one of the more disjointed scenes between Basil Fawlty and Manuel in Fawlty Towers."

Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson, in his Daily Mirror column, adds: "Once John Terry steps onto the pitch in Cardiff, he will be a good leader and captain for England, but Fabio Capello's handling of the whole issue has been a farce and an embarrassment."

Even the broadsheets have been critical. Henry Winter in the Telegraph writes a piece under the headline 'Fabio Capello's sorry display raises more doubts about Italian's leadership style', while Barney Ronay, writing in The Guardian, adopts a lighter tone but is also less than complimentary about the England manager.

"There is without doubt something missing with England, a thrill-shortfall, an absence of umbrella-gnawing desperation, and I believe this comes straight from Fabio Capello," Ronay writes. "Parading the touchline he seems instead to radiate the mute and gurning fury of an elite concert pianist forced to queue for a kebab."

Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail provides a dissenting voice. "It was another funny old day for Fabio Capello," he writes. "He awoke to headlines claiming the players no longer feared him, and others that he should issue a grovelling apology over his handling of John Terry's reinstatement as England captain.

"So what's it to be then, eh? Do we want a subjugated manager pleading for forgiveness through the newspapers to a player who may not pull on an England shirt again this season? Or do we want the return of the brusque authoritarian who ruled his squad with an iron fist and meted out doses of solitary confinement between coruscating team meetings?

"Actually, we want it all ways. We want to gnaw on the captaincy like a dog with a bone, refusing to let the issue rest while portraying it as Capello's point of weakness, and his grudging admission that the personal touch was missing in his dealings with Rio Ferdinand fed the monster for another 24 hours."

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