Soccer: Real Madrid sign van Nistelrooy

Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will join Real Madrid from Manchester United on a three-year contract, the Primera Liga soccer club said today.

The deal is reported by Spanish media to be worth about 15 million euros ($31.03 million).

The 30-year-old striker scored 150 goals in 219 appearances since joining United for a then British record fee of £19 million ($39.31 million) in 2001.

He is Real's third signing under new president Ramon Calderon following on from Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro and Brazil midfielder Emerson, and will link up with former Manchester United teammate David Beckham.

Van Nistelrooy put in a transfer request a fortnight ago and both Real and Bayern Munich had been competing to secure his services for next season.

The Dutchman fell out of favour at United in the latter part of last season as manager Alex Ferguson increasingly looked to Louis Saha to partner Wayne Rooney in attack.

He was an unused substitute in United's 4-0 victory over Wigan in the League Cup final in February and stormed out of Old Trafford when he was left out of their final league match of the season against Charlton Athletic in May.

Van Nistelrooy, who has scored 28 goals in 54 games for the Netherlands, found the net just once at the recent World Cup and was left on the bench by Dutch coach Marco van Basten during their second-round loss to Portugal.

The Dutchman will face stiff competition from Raul, Robinho, Julio Baptista, Antonio Cassano and Ronaldo for a place in the Real attack, although his arrival is likely to hasten the departure of at least one of the forwards.

Real are in the process of trying to put together a team under new coach Fabio Capello which will help them win their first trophy in four seasons.

Van Nistelrooy started his career with Dutch sides Den Bosch and Heerenveen before joining PSV Eindhoven in 1998 where he scored an 62 goals from 67 appearances.

United manager Ferguson continued with his bid to bring Van Nistelrooy to the club even after the striker failed a medical in April, 2000, and then sustained a serious cruciate knee ligament injury while training with PSV a few days later.

He finally arrived in 2001 and repaid Ferguson's faith in him by scoring 36 goals in all competitions in his debut season.

He was the premier league's leading scorer with 25 goals when United won the championship in 2003 and was also named PFA player of the year.

He has scored 20 goals or more in four of his five seasons at Old Trafford.

Van Nistelrooy is United's all-time top scorer in Europe, having surpassed Denis Law's long-standing record in September, 2004, and is the fourth highest scorer in the European Cup, level on 47 goals with Portuguese great Eusebio.

- REUTERS