Manchester United have signed Portuguese teenager Cristiano Ronaldo on a five-year contract from Sporting Lisbon.
The club made the announcement to the Stock Exchange and the deal is worth a total of £12.24 million sterling.
The 18-year-old forward becomes the fourth summer signing made by the Premiership champions.
Ronaldo said: "I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United".
Ferguson said: "We have been negotiating for Cristiano for quite some time, but the interest in him from other clubs accelerated in the last few weeks so we had to move quickly to get him.
"It was only through our association with Sporting that they honoured our agreement of months ago. He is an extremely talented footballer, a two-footed attacker who can play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle.
"After we played Sporting last week the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him - that's how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I've ever seen".
Chelsea were also reported to have been interested in the player.
Eric Djemba-Djemba, David Bellion and Tim Howard are manager Alex Ferguson's other summer signings.