The Blues boss has agreed a fee of '100,000 with Leicester for the Welsh international who has been involved in transfers totalling '7m following his graduation from the FA School of Excellence.
Thatcher, who like former City favourite Paul Dickov had a clause inserted in his contact allowing him to leave the Foxes in a cut-priced deal should they be relegated, has agreed personal terms and is expected to be at Carrington next week for his medical.
It is thought Keegan will offer him at least a three-year deal taking the 28-year-old defender beyond the manager's favoured retirement date.
Swindon-born Thatcher, who made his debut for Millwall as a 17-year-old, becomes the Blues fourth left back in as many seasons following on from England legend Stuart Pearce, Danish international Niclas Jensen and German star Michael Tarnat.
Thatcher's arrival may precipitate the departure of Stephen Jordan. The 22-year-old is the only other specialist left back on the books at Eastlands and he must now decide whether or not to stay and fight for a place. He has been offered a contract, but is wanted by Barry Fry's Peterborough United.
Big money move
The Blues new signing can expect to make his debut in the opening pre-season contest at Bury on July 21.
Thatcher moved across London from The Den to Wimbledon in the summer of 1996 for '1.7million.
While with the Dons he won four England under 21 caps and captained England's junior side. He has since declared himself available for Wales through his grandmother who hailed from Barry and the Principality's head coach Mark Hughes has taken advantage of the player's switch by handing him four caps so far.
During the Millennium transfer boom, Thatcher fetched a fee of '5m as he moved across the capital again, this time to White Hart Lane.
His hopes of establishing himself under another former England boss Glenn Hoddle were dashed when a hip injury kept him out of the game for almost a year and he never got back into the side on a regular basis before heading for the Walkers Stadium in a '300,000 move.
Thatcher played the vast majority of Leicester's matches in their doomed Premiership campaign, his start against Keegan's men in the 1-1 draw in late April was his 28th of the season.
Keegan is now expected to step up his search for three more defensive recruits.
He is keen to sign a number two goalkeeper while waiting for Nick Weaver to recover from injury and Kevin Ellegaard to further his development and will then switch to his focus to a right back and central defender.
Keegan still fancies Leeds United skipper Dominic Matteo although both Everton and Blackburn have recently entered the race for the former Liverpool man's signature and he will be keeping an eye on Michael Reiziger.
The City chief has his hands tied by the accountants this summer and will have to box clever in the Bosman end of the market as he goes shopping with an empty wallet and a credit card stacked to its limit.
That will not change unless he makes a big sale or there is an unexpected cash injection at the club.
A good signing? Have your say.
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Good solid defender, familiar with the english game, the right age and cheap. A positive signing in all respects i think. The doubters should wait until he's in a City shirt (ie. pre-season games) before judging rather than "rubbish" him now because he played for Leicester.
Under 30 and for 100k can't see the harm although im sure there will be many that disagree.
This is what we've come too! Relegation beckons.
??????????? questionable but if he has signed then we should back him and any other player in a blue shirt who fights the cause........unless they prove they couldnt give a monkeys ie fowler macmanaman etc.Now we have spent our transfer money all B#100k what will we have to do to get another B#100k superstar in. I reckon if we could sell fowler reyna macmanaman and sinclair we could get at least B#70k for all of them then we would only have to find another B#30k to attract another big name star like this one and then we can all rest easy knowing that the top six will be a doddle next season.
Hope he performs better than his mam!
Seems strange to me: I don't believe he is better than either Danny Tiatto on the left or Ged Wiekens in the middle. Even when we're skint we seem to be shopaholics...
Jordan to Peterborough then!
Thatcher is a tough defender who will be great for us. Finally KK, you made a decent investment. And finally, its one we can have in the team for many years to come. Great job, Kev.
Good one, Kev. A hard tough tackler who will come to good use. Thanks!
Looks like the club are preparing themselves for relegation by buying 1st division standard players. If we also sign Matteo we will have 2 defenders and a keeper who have been relegated with their previous clubs. Are those positive signings? I think not! I'm preparing myself for another miserable season under the permed ones stewardship. Don't bank on the teams who came up to save us either, as I can see Dowie working miracles next season and WBA will have learnt from their previous Premiership campaign.
He's a grafter, he's under thirty and he hasn't played for Liverpool so he makes a change from some of our recent signings.
The golden rule of buying player is: are they better than what you already have? Is Thatcher better than Tiatto? I don't think so! Why then did KK get rid of Tiatto and replace him with an equally as good if not worse player? KK really hasn't got a clue and should go and play golf in Spain instead!
Yes he is not a bad player and at 28 something of a spring Chicken for us but Tarnet and Tiatto both would have been better at left back although I guess he doea have more premiership experience.I will back him because he is a blue now but we still need a right back and I am still gutted over DVB!!!
I don't want to poor scorn on this deal because I don't know enough about Thatcher as a player. I suspect that in terms of value for money he is a good proposition, and I think we need solid defenders. The thing that does concern me is the club's long term strategic thinking - we get rid of Danny Granville for Stuart Pearce then bring Niclas Jensen in, who we get rid of and bring in Michael Tarnat, who we have to let go because space has to be freed up on the wage bill for more important positions. Is Thatcher really going to be any better than Granville? Seems to me we have taken the long way round to get to pretty much the same place - solid, journeyman defender. I hope that Jordan is given a fair crack of the whip and allowed to compete for a place. I think Thatcher can cover centre half as well....
Total disgrace, what is wrong with the kids at this club??, Jordan would have been a far better option a full back, than somebody who could not cut it with his previous 2 premier league clubs (Spurs & Leicester).
It is finally time to reap the rewards of Jim Cassell's hard work and the finest young talent in this country, and that means SACK this lemon brain Keegan, get a manager like Brian Horton back in charge and he will bring the kids through.
If we stick with Keegan, then where will this club be when he walks away from his contract in 2 years time??...all the young talent sold or given away on the cheap and a squad full of geriatrics.
I will wait and see before judgement. I was at the Leicester home game last season and he looked good BUT who didn't look good against us last season. At least we have a left sided player in, I also hope this does not mean that it is the end for another youngster - Stephen Jordan !! I for one want the young guys given a chance to see what they can do.
well i am glad we missed out on van buyten if this is the sort of player we get,fantastic!
A solid enough defender, and at B#100K, where's the risk? A bet he earns a damn sight less than Tarnat and at least Thatcher can run. OK so he's not a huge name/star, but let's face it, big names like Fowler, Macca, Sinclair et al haven't exactly done the business.
we are now officially a bloody laughing stock
Initially I was opposed to this signing,however,in reality we have NO money,we need defenders who can defend first & foremost,plus any new signings should have right attitude(unlike McMinimum)so all things considered not a bad signing.(Tenner sez he gets booked for kicking
Bobster, I agree totally with your comments on this one.
I must reserve judgement until I've seen him in a Blue shirt. At least we've got a defender which is the area in need of strength. I have to say I'm not optimistic for next season. I can see a struggle coming. Hope I'm wrong but unless some of the meal tickets start performing we'll be in the lower reaches.
A few people seem quick to criticize the lad mainly because he was with a relegated side last season... Just like James was, and I think DJ possibly kept us in the Premier League. Lets not be to hasty. I mean are SWP, Anelka, Barton poor players as well because we were very, very close to relegation ourselves. Remember folks, it is a team game. Thatcher could have been setting the world on fire at left back for Leicester but it means jack if the numpties in the centre aren't doing there job. Good luck to the lad.
Seriously considering defecting to Everton, they may be rubbish but they don't sign tosh like this.
Why didn't we get De Pedro, Reiziger, Cocu, Sorin. Anything but this player.
Do we actually have any Scouts, how about that Heinz guy who awesome for Czech the other day.
Good signing, strong and organised left back, its about time we had someone who can defend