£400m Wembley deal ready for signing

The Football Association will tomorrow sign a deal with German bank WestLB for about £400 million to finance the new national stadium at Wembley.

After months of uncertainty a "head of terms agreement" has been finalised. The loan is a breakthrough for the FA, owner of Wembley National Stadium Ltd. The FA remained confident it would be concluded despite fears it could be knocked off course by an MPs' probe into alleged mismanagement of the project.

There have even been reports WestLB itself might have to pull out because of its own financial problems. But A Wembley source said: "There might be a few weeks before money is transferred, but it's basically done."

The full financing for the £715 million scheme will not be finalised until mid-August. The new 90,000-seat arena would have 18,000 corporate hospitality seats.

The Government, criticised over its role in the Wembley project, will be relieved the FA has found a backer. And any faint hopes Birmingham had of hosting a national stadium will be ended by tomorrow's signing, due to happen today but held up because FA chief executive Adam Crozier is in Japan.