London/Madrid - Premier League giants Liverpool officially announced on Wednesday the sale of defender Alvaro Arbeloa to Real Madrid, for a fee believed to be around four million euros (5.69 million dollars). He is currently undergoing medical checks in Madrid, prior to signing a five-year contract with Real.
Arbeloa was a regular in the first team at Anfield last year but the signing of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth appeared to convince him that he could not be sure of a spot this year.
The 26-year-old only had one year of his Liverpool contract left to run. He was one of manager Rafa Benitez's many Spanish signings, from Deportivo Coruna in January 2007.
Arbeloa, who can play in any of the four defensive positions, started his career at Zaragoza then signed for the Real Madrid youth team in 2002. He left Madrid for Deportivo in 2006, having played just two matches for the Real first team.
He was a reserve for Spain at Euro 2008.
New Real coach Manuel Pellegrini has been keen to strengthen a Real defence which sagged alarmingly at the end of last season.
Arbeloa is Real's sixth summer signing - after Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Raul Albiol and Esteban Granero - and takes their record-breaking spending spree above 220 million euros.
Pellegrini is also keen to buy Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, who will cost around 30 million euros, but Benitez has urged him to see out the remainder of his three-year contract.
