c´est fait ! !!!!
Manchester United have confirmed the £12m signing of Portuguese teenager Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon on a five-year contract.
The 18-year-old becomes the club´s fourth summer signing after the arrivals of David Bellion, Tim Howard and Eric Djemba-Djemba.
Ronaldo is the first player to switch from Sporting to United since the clubs announced their link-up earlier this year.
The club made the announcement to the Stock Exchange and the deal is worth a total of £12.24m.
Ronaldo said: " I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United. I look forward to helping the team achieve even more success in the years to come."
The teenager has been under scrutiny for some time, but it is understood his performance against United in last week´s friendly in Portugal sparked a swift reaction from Sir Alex Ferguson who did not want the player to slip through his fingers, amid reports that Chelsea were weighing up a move for the creative midfielder.
Ferguson claimed an agreement had been in place to sign the player " months ago" but the Red Devils quickened their pursuit when it became clear other clubs were also chasing him.
He said: " We have been negotiating for Cristiano for quite some time, but the interest in him from other clubs accelerated in the last few weeks so we had to move quickly to get him.
" It was only through our association with Sporting that they honoured our agreement of months ago. He is an extremely talented footballer, a two-footed attacker who can play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle.
" After we played Sporting last week the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him - that´s how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I´ve ever seen."
Brazilian midfielder Kleberson is also tying up the loose ends of a £5m deal which would make him United´s fifth acquisition.