PSV confirm van Bommel exit

PSV Eindhoven have confirmed Mark van Bommel will leave the club.

Van Bommel's contract at Philips Stadion expires in the summer and he has long been expected to leave the Dutch champions on a free transfer.

Barcelona have been perennial favourites to sign the 28-year-old, despite interest from the likes of Milan, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

The Catalan outfit's president Joan Laporta claimed over the weekend that van Bommel has agreed, in principle, to move to Camp Nou next season.

But while PSV have now acknowledged van Bommel is quitting Eindhoven, they are unsure who the talismanic midfielder will join.

"He hasn't confirmed anything himself yet," PSV president Rob Westerhof told Sky Sports News.

"I suppose that he will be going either to Barcelona or one of the other big European teams that have been mentioned.

"It's a pity but I can understand him. He is 28 and he will make a lot of money but we hope that he will come back three or four years later to PSV.

"He's definitely leaving, that's what he has told us. It's not a matter that he wanted to leave but, from his perspective, he can play for one of the great European teams.

"We will know in a few weeks whether the Barcelona story is true or not."

Westerhof also confirmed that Manchester United have been watching van Bommel and outlined the qualities the Holland international will bring to his new club.

He added: "I saw Alex Ferguson watching him and several other clubs.

"You never know how far that has gone as his manager has been very quiet all the time about which way it's going.

"Van Bommel is a player who would be of interest to any top club. He makes goals, controls the midfield, is dangerous and is a little bit of a nasty player in a positive way, like Roy Keane."