United hijack Kleberson move

But if Reid is under any illusion about the difficulty of his task, it was spelled out in a bold forecast by United chief executive Peter Kenyon that it would be an ' interesting news week' at Old Trafford.

With America goalkeeper Tim Howard due to be unveiled on a four- year contract today and Ronaldinho's £20m move from Paris Saint- Germain close to completion, United will look to offload Juan Sebastian Veron to Chelsea for £14m to fund their move for Kleberson.

United are anxious to finalise all their major deals before they leave for a four-match tour of the United States on Saturday. Kenyon declared: 'I am very confident the Ronaldinho transfer will happen, hopefully before we leave for the States. I was delighted to see that he said he wanted to join us.'

United faxed a new offer of £20m - £3m of which would be linked to achievements - to PSG yesterday morning and Kenyon is due to fly to Geneva this evening to thrash out the deal with PSG president Francis Graille. The French club may try to push the fee closer to the £25m they originally asked for but both sides believe they are close to an agreement.

Confirmation of Ronaldinho's arrival will give Chelsea the green light to push through their move for Veron, with United willing to accept a huge loss on the under-performing Argentina midfielder, who cost £28.1m from Lazio two summers ago. The income has already been earmarked by Sir Alex Ferguson, who is also exploring the possibility of prising winger Joaquin away from Real Betis.

Ferguson is awaiting the outcome of talks between Joaquin and Betis president Manuel Luiz De Lopera over improved terms for a new contract and knows he faces a difficult task.

The point was reinforced last week when Betis technical secretary Luis Del Sol was sacked for daring to discuss Joaquin's possible availability with Kenyon.

De Lopera will not give up one of Spain's emerging talents without a fight. He has already dismissed the notion of including United's Uruguay striker Diego Forlan in a part-exchange deal and challenged Ferguson to come up with a more high-profile player plus £18m in cash.

Kenyon is backing his manager to bring in the players he wants, though, saying: 'We had a plan at the beginning of the year and are well on our way to completing it. I am sure it will all come off, and when it does we will have a squad for next season which is slightly stronger in terms of numbers than last year and one the manager is happy will compete both for domestic and European honours.

'We are in good shape and we hope this week will be an interesting news week.'

One Brazilian who has joined Leeds this week is Juliano Rodrigo. The 26-year-old, who was released by Everton after suffering a cruciate ligament injury last season, is on trial with view to a permanent transfer from Botafogo. The left- sided midfielder was voted Brazil's player of the year only 18 months ago.

Another trialist, Crystal Palace winger Julian Gray, 23, looks set to become Reid's first signing with the fee set by a tribunal.