United had hoped to raise at least £15 million from the sale of Van Nistelrooy, with Ferguson claiming as late as Wednesday evening that “if we are going to sell Ruud van Nistelrooy we should get the proper value”, drawing parallels with the £30 million fee that Chelsea paid AC Milan for Andriy Shevchenko. However, United’s bargaining position has been compromised by the collapse of Ferguson’s relationship with his leading goalscorer, leaving the club on the verge of accepting Real’s offer last night.

Ferguson will argue that the club’s hand was forced by Van Nistelrooy’s three transfer requests — the first coming before the FA Cup Final against Arsenal in May 2005 — but the Holland forward is expected to make clear at a press conference this evening that he intended to see out his career at Old Trafford after being talked out of the first of those requests. It was only after his fall from favour last season that the second was submitted by his agent, Rodger Linse, and the third, a formal written request, was made a fortnight ago after Van Nistelrooy, having scored 150 goals in 219 appearances for the club, accepted he had no future under Ferguson.

The two men did not speak all summer, but Van Nistelrooy was ordered to return to pre-season training on Monday, which at least smoothed his departure. Real announced on their website last night that a deal had already been done. “Real Madrid C. F. announces that it has reached an agreement with Manchester United over the signing of the player Ruud van Nistelrooy,” a statement read.

That announcement caused more than a little irritation at Old Trafford, but a statement rushed out 90 minutes later implied that, while no fee had been agreed, an end was in sight. “Manchester United give permission for Ruud van Nistelrooy to travel to Real Madrid for a medical,” it read. “However, terms of agreement are yet to be finalised between the two clubs.”

Unless United can succeed in persuading Real to raise their bid significantly today, the size of the fee is likely to cause consternation among their supporters, particularly given that Ferguson is ready to commit more than £16 million to signing Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur. United valued Van Nistelrooy far higher when the transfer window opened at the start of the summer, but Ferguson’s determination to sell the Holland forward has been matched by his desperation to sign a midfield player whom he considers the answer to his team’s problems.

A breakthrough in negotiations over Carrick was made yesterday and, while no agreement had been announced last night, it is expected that the England midfield player will complete his move to Old Trafford early next week.

Carrick is expected to make his first appearance in United colours against FC Porto in the LG Amsterdam Tournament a week today, but his arrival does not begin to offset the sale of Van Nistelrooy, leaving Ferguson in urgent need of reinforcements before the opening Barclays Premiership game against Fulham on August 20.

• David Beckham pulled up injured after 30 minutes of his first training session since arriving at Real Madrid’s pre-season training camp in Austria. The former England captain has not recovered from the left knee tendon injury he suffered in the World Cup defeat by Portugal on July 1.

  “The World Cup injury is still bothering me,” Beckham said. “We’ve got a long time for preseason work and it’s better to start without feeling any pain. Today it hurt when I’d been running for a while.”