Wesley Sneijder joins Real Madrid

Wesley Sneijder became the third Dutch player to join Real Madrid in 2 years confirms the Spanish club's official website. The former Ajax man had penned a 5 year deal according to Real Madrid Dot Com.

His switch from Ajax has been in the works for other a month, but had recently stalled due to disputes over the transfer fee.

However, the Dutch giants appear to have finally reached an accord with Los Merengues. This was far from guaranteed: lately, Real Madrid refused to pay 27 million euros up front, with Ajax refusing to budge from their valuation.

However, according to Ajax's official web page, Madrid have relented, agreeing to meet their asking price for the midfielder. Reports in Spain, however, suggest that the figure is around 26m.

What matters most, perhaps, is that Los Merengues have confirmed that Sneijder will wear white for the next five seasons.

Wesley, a 23 year old midfielder, is a product of the famous Ajax youth academy. After breaking into the first team in 2002, he quickly established himself both as a key player at the Amsterdam ArenA, and as a Dutch international.

He had been linked with a move to the Premiership, and had almost completed a move to Valencia earlier this summer, but for Quique Sanchez Flores to veto it during his internal conflict with Amedeo Carboni.

He will join Madrid's growing list of Dutch players, after the Spanish giant scooped up Van Nistelrooy last season and the prodigious Drenthe. The latter played an instrumental role in Madrid's triumph in the La Liga, Madrid fans will be hoping that both Drenthe and Sneijder will be able to prove to their worth like Van Nistelrooy.