Manchester United have agreed a deal to sign Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund.
Kagawa will become Sir Alex Ferguson's first summer signing in the bid to wrestle the Barclays Premier League crown back from rivals City.
Rio Ferdinand tweeted: 'Welcome to Shinji Kagawa for his transfer to Man Utd. heres to a succesful time here bro!'
A club statement read: 'Manchester United is delighted to announce that it has agreed terms with both Borussia Dortmund and Shinji Kagawa for his transfer to the club.
;The deal is subject only to the player medical and obtaining a UK work permit. These conditions are anticipated to be completed by the end of June. Further details will be announced in due course.'
The deal is subject to a medical and work permit but there are unlikely to be any issues. United have held negotiations with the Japan international for a number of weeks.
It is not anticipated the deal will be completed until the end of the month as Kagawa is currently on international duty.
He played in Japan's 3-0 World Cup qualifying round victory over Oman at the weekend.
'We would like to thank Shinji for his effort and his large contribution in two extraordinarily successful years,' said Dortmund's sports director Michael Zorc.
He was responsible for bringing the player to Dortmund in 2010 for just £300,000 from Japanese second division club Cerezo Osaka
Kagawa has already done enough in his two seasons in Germany to avoid the fate of Park Ji-sung, who was initially condemned as a 'trophy' signing following his arrival from PSV Eindhoven in 2005, designed purely to sell shirts in the lucrative Far East market.
He was named in the Bundesliga's team of the season for 2010-11 despite being absent through injury for half the campaign. Kagawa then went on to score 16 goals last term, when Dortmund completed the domestic league and cup double.
Ferguson and assistant Mike Phelan made a personal check on the 23-year-old the day before United's final match at Sunderland, when they saw Kagawa grab one goal and create another in Dortmund's 5-2 German Cup triumph over Bayern Munich.
With Kagawa in the bag, Ferguson will now turn his attention to landing some of his other top targets - but that depends on how much the Glazers are willing to spend.
United have been told they will have to pay £72million to land top targets Luka Modric, Leighton Baines and Cheick Tiote.
Ferguson wants to strengthen and rejuvenate his midfield and, intriguingly, is after an alternative to Patrice Evra at left-back.
But the United boss is refusing to meet Tottenham’s £32m valuation of Modric or pay the £20m price quoted for Everton’s Baines and Newcastle’s Tiote as he seeks to keep costs at Old Trafford manageable.
‘We have made inquiries for all three players,’ admitted an Old Trafford source. ‘But Sir Alex will not be paying these ridiculous fees.’
Ferguson has left for his annual break in the south of France and will wait while considering other options for rebuilding the squad that was second best to Manchester City in the title race.
However, his stance leaves the way clear for other clubs and Chelsea are poised to step in for Tiote. Roman Abramovich, encouraged by his club’s Champions League victory, is willing to pay £20m for the combative Ivorian as he looks to build on their Munich success.
Newcastle would make a profit of £16.5m on midfielder Tiote if the deal went through.
In midfield, Ferguson is still relying on Paul Scholes, 37, who he has convinced to stay for another year, and Ryan Giggs, 38. Both will soon have to be replaced and Modric and Tiote would bring resilience and guile.
But Evra, who stood in as captain for the injured Nemanja Vidic last season, has only just celebrated his 31st birthday. The defender is also likely to be a prominent figure for France at Euro 2012, where his country are in Group D with England.
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
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