Having come through his medical without a problem on Monday, United have confirmed De Gea will eventually put pen to paper on a five-year contract, becoming Sir Alex Ferguson's third signing of the summer. Unlike Phil Jones, and to a lesser extent Ashley Young, there will be no easy introduction to life at United for De Gea. With Van der Sar now retired, the 20-year-old will start the new campaign as United's first-choice keeper, aiming to prove he is worthy of all the high praise he has received in just two seasons as a senior professional. "The manager said that I should enjoy the holiday I've been afforded now but of course I'm more excited about getting started in training and meeting my future team-mates," De Gea told MUTV. "Edwin has been the best goalkeeper in the world whilst here at United. "I hope to emulate him and spend a great number of years here. Hopefully I will equal or even surpass the performance and contribution he made to the club." After helping Spain clinch the European Under-21 title in Denmark at the weekend, it is likely De Gea will be a late arrival on the Red Devils' three-week pre-season tour to the United States, when he will begin the acclimatisation process. Although there is an obvious example of a positive goalkeeping transition from Spain to England in Liverpool's Jose Reina, the learning curve is going to be steep. Manchester City lie in wait at Wembley for the Community Shield on August 6, with the champions' Premier League opener at West Brom the following weekend. "There are differences between the two (leagues)," said De Gea. "The Premier League is known to be a more physical style of play. "There are a lot of high balls and a lot of play in the air but I hope to adapt fairly quickly and with my own style hope to contribute to it being an all-round success." Having known for some considerable time that van der Sar would be leaving at the end of last season, Ferguson and his coaching team carried out extensive research on the veteran's replacement, desperate to avoid the difficulties United experienced when Peter Schmeichel left in 1999. Manuel Neuer is thought to have attracted some interest before moving from Schalke to Bayern Munich and Ajax's Maarten Stekelenburg was also scouted. However, it soon became apparent De Gea was Ferguson's preferred option, the only doubt being over the Atletico Madrid player's willingness to leave Spain at such an early stage of a career that has already drawn favourable comment from his national captain and goalkeeping legend, Real Madrid's Iker Casillas. "When a club the size of Manchester United comes in for you it obviously makes you very happy," said De Gea. "I saw their interest as an extra motivation to work even harder to show off my ability. "I am young but I'm coming here on the back of two full seasons in La Liga in Spain so I think I've got enough experience to contribute to such a big club. "I am planning to work extremely hard and do the best I can." The transfer takes Ferguson's summer spending over the £50million mark and seems certain to signal the departure of Tomasz Kuszczak, who was on the bench for United's Champions League defeat to Barcelona last month. A search for further reinforcements will continue, especially now Paul Scholes has followed van der Sar into retirement, with a move for Arsenal's Samir Nasri now anticipated as hopes to capture Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Alexis Sanchez start to recede. However, De Gea already feels United have plenty to look forward to, and reckons avenging that Champions League loss is not the impossible dream it appeared at the time. "Of course everybody wants to win the Premier League," he said. "That's no different from me - I'd like to do that but also aiming to win the Champions League is realistic. That is what we're going to do."
