Evra completes Man Utd transfer

[Mac 10 †]

Evra completes Man Utd transfer 
 
Manchester United have completed the signing of Monaco defender Patrice Evra in a reported £5.5m deal.
 
The 24-year-old left-back has passed a medical and signed a contract which will keep him at Old Trafford until the summer of 2009.

Evra had been in dispute at Monaco and was also a target for Inter Milan, who had a £3.5m bid turned down.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: "We have been monitoring him all season and it is fantastic he is joining us."

Ferguson added: "He is a good age and he is still developing as a player, which is always exciting."

Red Devils chief executive David Gill flew to the principality to clinch the deal on Thursday evening.

The France under-21 international won the last of his five senior caps in 2002, since when he has been ignored by France coach Raymond Domenech.

He joins United's other signing during the transfer window, Serbian centre-half Nemanja Vidic.

Evra had made it clear he wished to leave in the January transfer window.

And United boss Ferguson sees Evra as a solution to his problems at left-back following Gabriel Heinze's long-term injury.

John O'Shea has been filling the role but United have continued to leak goals, a failing which has seen them slip 13 points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.