Former Leeds goalkeeper Theo Richardson signs permanent Manchester United deal

Former Leeds United youngster Theo Richardson has earned himself a permanent contract at Manchester United. As per the club's official website and the player's representatives, the 18-year-old goalkeeper has put pen to paper on a full-time deal after impressing during an initial stint towards the end of last season.

Richardson's previous arrangement with Leeds was due to expire over the summer and the Reading-born custodian joined rivals United on a trial basis in March. He quickly earned praise for a "splendid" performance during a 2-2 Premier League Under-18 Merit Stage clash with Manchester City in which he is said to have produced "several terrific saves".

According to the Red Devils, Richardson signed permanently on 20 July and joined the rest of the reserves and Under-18s for a pre-season training camp in Obertraun, Austria.

"Signed on a permanent contract after arriving on a short-term basis towards the end of the 2016/17 season," reads Richardson's profile on www.manutd.com.

"One of four keepers with the reserves squad at the training camp in Austria - with Kieran O'Hara, Max Johnstone and Ilias Moutha-Sebtaoui - and likely to push for a place in the Under-23s and UEFA Youth League squad.

"Formerly with Leeds United, he produced some outstanding performances when thrust into the Reds' Under-18 team to earn a deal over the course of the summer."

Management company World in Motion also tweeted to confirm the deal. Agent Charlie McNicholas said: "DEAL DONE: Congratulations to @WorldinMotion_ & @GK1info client @TRichardson98 whose move to @ManUtd from @LUFC has now been confirmed #MUFC."

Richardson also started for Kieran McKenna's Under-18s side in a SuperCupNI (formerly the Milk Cup) meeting with Northern Ireland on Saturday (22 July). He kept a clean sheet as a first-half strike from Swiss forward Nishan Burkart secured a 1-0 victory for the visitors at the Coleraine Showgrounds.

That game was labelled as a one-off showcase fixture, with a younger United team set to compete in the main competition this week.