Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a broken finger and bone in his left hand.

The 38-year-old Dutch-man sustained the injury saving a penalty from Danijel Pranjic in the Red Devils' 7-6 shoot-out defeat to Bayern Munich in the pre-season Audi Cup in Germany.

Van der Sar is not expected to be back in Sir Alex Ferguson's plans until late September, meaning the Scot will have to turn to either Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak between the posts for the start of the new season.

Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso was today due to have his medical at the Bernabeu before becoming Real Madrid's latest galactico'.

The 27-year-old midfielder flew to the Spanish capital after a fee, believed to be £30million, was agreed between Liverpool and Real Madrid to end the summer's longest transfer saga.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez flew with his squad to Norway for tonight's friendly with Lyn Oslo, already working on a replacement.

Now Benitez has the cash to spend on his own squad, with one of the hold-ups this week being his insistence on the first instalment of the Alonso fee being paid immediately.

He is believed to want to close a deal to bring in midfielder Alberto Aquilani as Alonso's replacement. Cash-strapped Roma are willing to sell for around £15million and the player is happy with a five-year contract worth around 4million a year.

It is believed the player has agreed personal terms already, but negotiations could not be completed until Alonso was sold.