Veron: "I will sign for United"
Argentina's Juan Veron has set his mind on joining Manchester United and hopes to sign for the English champions next week. "I definitely want to sign for the club. It would fill me with pride to wear the shirt of Manchester United," the Lazio midfielder was quoted as saying in the British daily The Mirror on Saturday.

"As soon as everything is sorted out I will come to Manchester for the medical," Veron, who helped Lazio win the Italian Serie A title last year, said. "It is a club that is special worldwide. As far as I'm aware there are no real obstacles to prevent me joining Manchester. My representatives will go to Manchester to meet the club's chief executive this week and surely they will come away with an agreement."

Veron told The Mirror he had decided to pursue his career in the Premiership with help from former Lazio coach Sven Goran Eriksson, now in charge of the England team. "I spoke extensively wth Mr Eriksson, with whom I have an excellent rapport," the 26-year-old told The Mirror from his holiday home in Florida.

Veron's transfer is expected to go through for Ł23.5million ($33million). British and Italian media have reported that officials of both clubs met in the Netherlands on Friday to continue negotiations that began earlier in the month. The transfer appeared originally to depend on the verdict of the Italian league in the case of fake passports used by numerous players, mainly South Americans, to obtain European Union citizenship

Veron was absolved of blame in his case in which he had been charged with obtaining an Italian passport on the premise of a false great, great grandfather. Veron said that United's show of faith in him by making an offer before the Italian league's diciplinary hearing in the fake passports case also helped with his decision. "They came to me before the disciplinary sentence and they made me feel their interest and support," he said.

Manchester United would be Veron's sixth club after starting his career with Estudiantes de La Plata, the side with which his father Juan Ramon won the world club title against United in 1968. Veron next played alongside Diego Maradona at Boca Juniors before joining Sampdoria in Italy in 1996. He moved from Genoa to Parma in 1998 and on to Roman club Lazio in 1999. "After five years in Italy I was looking forward to playing in another country with a team of ambition and quality," Veron said.