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David de Gea holds up his new Man Utd shirt with boss Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United have confirmed the signing of goalkeeper David de Gea from Atletico Madrid on a five-year deal.

The Spain Under-21 international, 20, underwent a medical at Old Trafford on Monday and will finalise what is thought to be an £18.9m move on Friday.

"I feel very proud and I can't wait to start playing here," De Gea told MUTV.

"When a club the size of Manchester United comes in for you, it obviously makes you very, very happy. I'm keen to do my best and show what I can do."

The deal marks De Gea out as the second most expensive keeper behind Gianluigi Buffon, who cost Juventus £32.6m in 2001.

MOST EXPENSIVE GOALKEEPERS Gianluigi Buffon - £32.6m

David de Gea - £18.9m*

Angelo Peruzzi - £10.5m

Craig Gordon - £9m

Fabien Barthez - £7.8m *Estimated fee

De Gea, part of the is a product of Atletico's youth academy, spending his first professional season with the club's reserves in the Segunda Division B before making his senior debut as a substitute in the Champions League against Porto in September 2009.

Since then he has made nearly 100 senior appearances for the Spanish outfit.

His arrival at Old Trafford follows the departure of Edwin van der Sar, who retired after the Champions League final defeat by Barcelona in May.

In May, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the Red Devils had been working on the De Gea deal for "quite a while".

"He's a young goalkeeper, very quick, good composure, presence and an outstanding replacement for Van der Sar," Ferguson told the club website. external-link

Alan Hansen's column quote The hardest person to replace in your team is always the goalkeeper. De Gea is only a young boy, so it will be very intriguing to see how he goes. Read more

"We were looking for the same type of qualities as Edwin, because the one great quality Edwin always had was his composure and organisational ability."

And, upon completion of the deal, De Gea added: "I saw Man Utd's 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."

Ferguson currently has goalkeepers Tomasz Kuszczak, Anders Lindegaard and Ben Amos on his books but De Gea is widely expected to be the Scot's number one in the new season.

The deal takes the Premier League champions' summer spending past the £50m mark after the acquisitions of defender Phil Jones from Blackburn and Ashley Young from Aston Villa.