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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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Following victory in the U21 European Championships with Spain, 20-year-old Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea has been spotted arriving in Manchester to go through his medical ahead of an £18m transfer.Though staff tried to hide him behind a blanket (you couldn't write this!), his 6'4" frame was too much to be covered, and photographs were inevitably taken.


Prior to heading to Denmark, it was reported that Manchester United and Atletico Madird had agreed a fee for the young keeper. However, De Gea remained mute on the transfer, besides to refute claims the deal was a 'done deal' back when Fergus was reported to have announced his imminent arrival.

De Gea started every La Liga game last season, after coming to prominence in the 2009-10 season. Along the way, he kept 11 clean sheets, and rose to 3rd place goalkeeper in the Spain national side.



Were he to sign, De Gea would be the 3rd United transfer of the pre-season period, joining Phil Jones and Ashley Young, and it doesn't look as if the champions will stop there. With the gap between United and Barcelona so vast in the Champions League Final, and with Scholes, Neville and Van der Sar retiring at the end of the season, new blood will be required to keep ahead of the likes of Chelsea and derby rivals, City.
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For the 3rd time in their 5 U-21 final appearances, the Spanish have claimed the European Championship title.

In doing so, they confirmed the reason for their being favourite prior to the start of the tournament, and host country Denmark were treated to a fantastic goal from Thiago.

16,000 people watched the final in Aarhus, as Spain secured a confident and commanding victory over a Switzerland side who had not conceded a single goal in the earlier rounds of the tournament.

On 41 minutes, Spain took the lead through an Ander Herrera header from a great Didac cross. The 1-0 scoreline stood until 9 minutes from time, when on 81 minutes, Thiago (son of Brazilian 1994 World Cup winner, Mazinho, scored a wonderful free kick from over 40 yards having spotted the Swiss keeper, Sommer, off his line.

Manchester United fans will have been particularly interested to see how David de Gea, Spain's young stopper, performed. Expected to complete a £17m switch from Atletico Madrid, he made only one save of note on 28 minutes when was he was forced to repel a volley from the dangerous Xherdan Shaqiri.


Despite being held back for much of the second half, Switzerland almost levelled the match on 79 when Timm Klose headed narrowly wide of the target from Shaqiri's free-kick.

In the end, the Swiss effort proved ineffectual as Thiago's effort put the polish on a fine couple of weeks for the young Spanish side.

Adrian claimed the Golden Boot award as the tournament's top goalscorer with 5 strikes to his name. Both Spain and Switzerland will now take part in the Olympic games in London, alongside Belarus who's U-21 side defeated the Czech Republic U-21s earlier in the day in the 3rd/4th placed play off.



Footnote: I am most sorry for the delay in posting information about this fixture! Yesterday was a very hectic day.
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