West Brom have completed the £3.25m signing of the England international goalkeeper Scott Carson from Liverpool. The 22-year-old, who played in 35 Premier League games for Aston Villa last season, has signed a four-year-deal and the club also have the option of adding another year to the deal.

Stoke had appeared close to signing Carson after agreeing a £3.5m fee with Liverpool, but yesterday ruled themselves out of the running for the goalkeeper, who may yet cost West Brom up to £3.75m depending on performance-related criteria.

His arrival takes the Baggies’ summer transfer spending to an initial £13.75m after the signings of Roman Bednar, Luke Moore, Do-heon Kim, Graham Dorrans, Gianni Zuiverloon and Marek Cech. Carson stands second in the all-time list of England Under-21 appearance-makers with 29 to his name and was part of the team that reached the 2007 European Championships semi-finals.

Then England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson named him in his 2006 World Cup squad and he made two ‘B’ international appearances for his country before being handed his senior debut in a 1-0 friendly win over Austria in November. Five days later, with regular number one Paul Robinson out of form, he was thrown in at the deep end in a make-or-break Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia - but his competitive debut ended in misery as England slumped to a 3-2 defeat.

Carson joined Leeds as a trainee in September 2002 after being spotted playing for non-league Workington in the FA Youth Cup. He made his Premier League debut for the Elland Road club against Middlesbrough in January 2004. Twelve months later, with Albion tracking Carson, Liverpool beat off a host of clubs, including Chelsea, to snap him up in a £750,000 deal.

However, his chances at Anfield were limited and a two-month spell at Sheffield Wednesday towards the end of the 2005-06 campaign was swiftly followed by a season-long loan at then Premier League outfit Charlton. He featured in all but two of the Addicks’ league clashes and was voted the supporters’ player of the year - despite their relegation.

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Arsène Wenger last night dismissed any notion that Alexander Hleb would be greatly missed at the Emirates, saying the club were “comfortable” with the Belarus midfielder’s €15m (£11.9m) move to Barcelona which was completed yesterday.

Having already acquired an effective replacement for Hleb last week with the purchase of the France international Samir Nasri from Marseille, the manager’s sentiment was perhaps unsurprising, although he did acknowledge the 27-year-old’s “contribution towards Arsenal during his time with us”.

“We are comfortable with our decision to let him go and we are all looking forward to continuing our preparations for the new season ahead,” said Wenger. “Everyone at Arsenal wishes Alex the best of luck for the future.”

Hleb becomes Barcelona’s fifth summer signing as the Catalan club prepare for La Liga under their new coach, Pep Guardiola. “It’s a dream, I love this team,” said Hleb. “I spoke with Guardiola and it’s very important that he wants me, and I’ll give my best to this team to win everything with Barcelona.”

Hleb wanted to leave Arsenal despite having two years left on his contract and he could yet be joined at Camp Nou by his former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor.

Another club-mate from his three years in north London, Gilberto Silva, is today expected to finalise his move from Arsenal to Panathinaikos.

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Real Madrid would cause major upset in the dressing room, the club’s midfielder Wesley Sneijder warned yesterday. The Dutchman said that bringing in the Manchester United winger on wages vastly superior to his team-mates’ would not be well received and added that Ronaldo was not needed.

Ronaldo is being offered a salary of about £150,000 a week after tax by Real and Sneijder said: “It would be bad for the dressing room if he gets a much higher salary than the rest of the squad. It’s not important to me but I know other team-mates would not like that at all. Here we have footballers like him, for example Arjen Robben or Robinho. It’s obvious that I want to play with Cristiano but you also have to maintain the equilibrium in the dressing room.”

Ronaldo is desperate to move to Madrid in the face of United’s determination to keep him but Sneijder suggested that the 23-year-old was not required. “For me this Madrid side do not need new signings,” he said, adding that if a player was needed in any position it was a striker.

He is keen to keep hold of Robinho, who is wanted by Chelsea. “I hope Robinho stays because I think he is equal to Cristiano Ronaldo. People have criticised Robinho because he hasn’t performed in the big matches but I saw important matches for Manchester United and Cristiano didn’t perform either. It’s not a criticism. I just want to point out that a player can’t be at the same level all season.”

Ref From guardian.co.uk