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Fan Football - by Ross Carpenter

 
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David De Gea, the Spanish U21 Atletico Madrid goalkeeper has agreed a 5-year contract with Manchester United, signing for a reported £17million.



Having already signed Phil Jones and Ashley Young, De Gea becomes United's 3rd major signing of the summer transfer perio, and pushed the expenditure through the £50m barrier,

De Gea stated: "I feel very proud and I can’t wait to start playing here. When a club the size of Manchester United comes in for you it obviously makes you very, very happy. I saw their interest as an extra motivation to work even harder to show off my ability. It’s a great privilege to be part of a club like United and I'm keen to do my best and show what I can do."

He will now set about the challenge of replacing Dutch legend, and retired United stopper, Edwin van der Sar, who, at 40 years of age, is double the age of the Spaniard.

Having made his La Liga debut for Atletico in 2009, and having just secured the U21 Euro Championship trophy with Spain, he will be thrown in to competition with Anders Lindegaard, the 27-year-old Danish keeper who joined last November, and Tomasz Kuszscak, the Polish keeper who has, in recent times, failed to impress.

After a huge void was left when Peter Schmeichel moved to Sporting Lisbon in 1999, a string of keepers tried to fill the gap. While some started well, such as Mark Bosnich and Fabian Barthez, they eventually left on bad terms after a catalogue of bad goalkeeping errors. Some, such as Massimo Taibi, is not even worth the screen you're reading this on.



But the arrival of Edwin from Fulham in 2005 gave United the goalkeeper to rival Schmeichel's pedigree. And having won a Champions League (2008), and four Premier League titles (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2010-11), he felt it time to hang his gloves up, and the hunt for a new keeper could finally commence.
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Fernando Torres joins Liverpool

July 5th 2007 05:36
Fernando Torres and Rafa Benitez
Welcome to Anfield, El Nino!!


Liverpool have signed Spain international striker Fernando Torres for a reported fee of around £21.5 - £26.5 million - beating the previous club record of £14 million for Frenchman Djribil Cisse.

The 23 year-old put pen to paper on a siz-year deal on a reported salary of £90,000 a week and will wear the famous number 9 jersey previously worn by Anfield legends Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler.

The Spaniard leaves La Liga side Atletico Madrid with a record of 82 goals in 214 league games and will be given the responsibility of leading the rather goal-shy Liverpool attack in their quest for a first Premiership title in 17 years.

In his first interview with the club, the Spanish ace expressed his delight in joining the Mighty Reds.

"I am very, very happy. This was the biggest decision of my footballing life but I've come to a winning club. This is a club of champions - one of the biggest there is. I now want to play my part in that and be a champion too and help the club progress."

While I have previously expressed my reservations about this signing due to the lack of success Spanish strikers have had in the English Premier League, this is indeed a significant moment for the English giants.

The enormity of the transfer fee shows that Liverpool are finally able to compete with the 'big boys' in spending big on a single player and it also shows that the new American owners are willing to offer funds for Benitez to build a championship winning team.

The downside in all of this is that the manager is fast running out of excuses to deliver a much coveted Premiership trophy for the five-time European champions.

Will Torres become the next Anfield legend to grace the famous number 9 shirt?

I certainly hope so!


[Source: LiverpoolFC]



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