Roy Keane, the Manchester United captain, is expected to commit his future to the club within 48 hours by signing a deal that will make him the best-paid player in the history of British football.

After several months of hard bargaining, the Republic of Ireland international midfielder is ready to accept a four-year contract that will net him around £50,000 a week.

His manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, will be delighted by the decision, which lifts the uncertainty that has unsettled United - inasmuch as it possible to unsettle a club that last week became officially the best team in the world after beating Palmeiras of Brazil, courtesy of a Keane goal, in Tokyo.

A financial package that will be sanctioned with some reluctance by the plc arm of the world's wealthiest club - and irritate some of his teammates - will consist of a basic salary of £40,000 a week with a weekly top-up of £10,000 in signing-on and loyalty bonuses.

In addition the 27-year-old Keane will be granted a testimonial in 2004, a guaranteed end-of-career money-spinner that could net him over £1.75m. With success-related bonuses, sponsorship deals and endorsements, it is conceivable that the player could earn around £17m over the next four years.

Keane's insistence that he would sever his ties with the European champions unless they acceded to his financial demands had sustained speculation that he would be playing his football in Italy's Serie A next season, where he could have earned £70,000 a week.

Keane's earning power has come a long way since he was spotted in 1990 playing for Cobh Ramblers in Cork by a Nottingham Forest scout. But he is said to have kept close links with his home village of Mayfield and generously supported his family. His brother Pat still plays for the Ramblers, for £60 a week. Keane's father Moss - known locally, thanks to his son's largesse, as Sterling Moss - was said to have urged him to stay at United.

The downside is that Keane will remain a visible target for the English tabloids. During a celebration after United clinched the Premiership, a woman alleged to police - and the Sun - that he had kicked her. Keane spent the night in a police cell but was not charged.

The deal puts in the shade the estimated £40,000 a week paid to the current top earners, Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson of Newcastle United and Chelsea's Marcel Desailly and Didier Deschamps. It is more than twice what United stars such as David Beckham earn.