Alan Smith is expected to join Manchester United for £7million on Wednesday in one of the most controversial transfers ever completed.
The 23-year-old England international will become the first new face in what is likely to be a summer of change at Old Trafford.
Official confirmation of Smith's move, which is expected to see young United full-back Danny Pugh head in the opposite direction, will not be made to the Stock Exchange until the player has completed his medical on Wednesday.
Leeds fans still coming to terms with relegation to the Football League, have already vented their anger that a player who has spent his entire career professing loyalty to the club has so actively sought a transfer to the team they hate the most.
While Eric Cantona and Rio Ferdinand have both crossed the United divide in recent years, neither had professed their love of Leeds in the same manner as Smith and the nearest comparison to the shockwaves being felt in his home city was when Luis Figo quit Barcelona for Real Madrid three years ago.
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
