• Home
• /
• Entertainment

Becks' real agony

which urged him to remember the good times he has had at Real Madrid. Beckham is said to have had tears in his eyes when he stood up to receive the keepsake. He told his close friends and team-mates Roberto Carlos, Cicinho and Michel Salgado, who had arranged the party for him: 'I will never forget you. You are like my family.' He added: 'I will return to Madrid whenever I can.'

Why posh is smiling for once

THERE WAS an interesting and emotional private celebration last week at Los Molinos, a restaurant just outside Madrid. David Beckham was presented with a cake with the words 'You'll Never Walk Alone' iced on it in chocolate, and an inscribed silver tray which urged him to remember the good times he has had at Real Madrid.

Beckham is said to have had tears in his eyes when he stood up to receive the keepsake. He told his close friends and team-mates Roberto Carlos, Cicinho and Michel Salgado, who had arranged the party for him: 'I will never forget you. You are like my family.' He added: 'I will return to Madrid whenever I can.'

He was, it seems, genuinely moved by this expression of esteem from his peers, and filled with regret at the thought of leaving them. A Spanish source suggested that Beckham actually has more friends in the Real dressing room than he ever had at Manchester United.

How, then, must he feel now that his move to Los Angeles is looming? For Beckham is poised on the brink of what appears to amount to a leap into professional oblivion - and more than one ally of the midfielder claims that he is having serious second thoughts.

'He's starting to get cold feet,' said a friend of his sister Joanne this week. 'He would much rather than anything else be with his family in Hertfordshire. He's a home-loving boy.'

It is fair to say that the situation now is quite different to the way things were in January when David Beckham signed his epoch-making deal - supposedly worth $250 million - to bring soccer to the Americans. At that time, he had been dropped by coach Fabio Capello from the Real team. He was also out of the England squad, having resigned the captaincy after the World Cup and then been axed altogether by the incoming coach, Steve McClaren.

Now, though, he is back in the Real side and Madrid are on the brink of winning the league - thanks in no small measure to his renewed sharpness on the pitch. Commentators hail him as 'King David' and he has forged deep and genuine friendships with some of the Madrid players.

There is also a good chance that McClaren will pick him for the national side in the games against Brazil and Estonia next month.

Won't he wonder, when flying off to a meaningless game in the American Mid-West with team-mates who are ludicrously far beneath him in their accomplishments, why he is not playing in the Champions League with Real and being Captain Marvel for his country?

One source at Real said this week that Beckham is having second thoughts about leaving the club, although he knows he is contractually obliged to go to Los Angeles.

But even if he wanted to stay, would he be able to? For David doesn't tend to get his own way much, and it seems that Victoria Beckham is determined to make the move.

'I'm very excited,' she said last week. 'David and the boys can't wait. We want to come tomorrow. We love it here [in LA].' All of which would be more convincing if David had managed to make a single appearance in Los Angeles since signing his deal in January.

He has not even seen the £11 million Italianate house which his wife has bought around the corner from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, or the schools his children are set to attend.

He has instead been concentrating hard on the end of the season with Real. He is fitter than ever before, and has a burning desire to see Real win the league - which Victoria does not understand at all.

Victoria, meanwhile, has been busy socialising and shopping, and only has time for their new adventure. She, of course, will be happy to see their Spanish era coming to an end - and with it the spectre of her husband's fleeting affair with Rebecca Loos. She is not in the mood for sentimental goodbyes or compromise deals with her husband.

In one recent argument, she was furious when David had a massive new tattoo on his arm - inked during one of her many absences in America. She had told him what she thought of the idea over the phone and he apparently went ahead and did it anyway - perhaps a minor act of defiance but one which resulted in some fireworks.

The bickering has been fairly serious at times. One friend indicates that the tattoo row was one of many heated transatlantic exchanges.

In the more serious arguments, David apparently says that Victoria isn't giving him any of her time, and tells her how unhappy he is.

A friend says: 'The bottom line is that she is naturally very excited about moving to Los Angeles, and is bored to tears when David bangs on about how lovely it has been in Madrid and his wonderful friends. It makes her roll her eyes.'

Indeed, when she made a rare appearance at her husband's side to watch a game last week, she spent most of the time fiddling with her manicure and looking as if she was about to expire from ennui.

But David Beckham would have to be a very brave man to contemplate derailing the Posh-does-Hollywood road show. She is making a 'documentary' about their move to Los Angeles for NBC, and has spent the week busily pulling off stunts to give the network some material.

On Tuesday, she very publicly visited a sex shop with her team in tow, browsing adult toys and kinky outfits and leaving with a bag of purchases.

Then on Wednesday, while being filmed having her driving lesson for the show, and with all the hallmarks of a choreographed publicity stunt, she was stopped by police for making an illegal right turn in front of them and taken off to apply for a Californian driving licence.

Every moment was - naturally - captured by the paparazzi, who, like magic, just happened to be right there, as well as her own film crew.

But there are already some signs of a backlash in America, where, despite her many efforts, Victoria is still a dimly known figure at best. There has been an internet campaign to get her to wear a bra, and T-shirts imploring the Brits to 'Free Becks, keep Posh' - which are selling briskly in mediasavvy circles.

But Victoria is undeterred. Apart from her PR offensive, and attempts to make herself known as a fashion icon in America, she is in charge of all the elements of the relocation.

She is trying to hire a family to act as live-in housekeepers, preferably comprising four staff members. She also wants to find two nannies to look after Brooklyn, eight, Romeo, four, and Cruz, two. The salary on offer is an eye-watering £6,000 a month.

Her requirements - apart from plain looks - are that the applicants should have perfect good manners and perfect spoken English. Her mother, Jackie has agreed to stay for six months to help her settle in, and also to be with the boys while Victoria does promotional work for the release of the Spice Girls greatest hits.

If a reunion happens, Victoria will also be absent for most of the autumn. She also has her clothing line and accessories range to work on.

So where will that leave David? He thinks he's going to enjoy hanging out with Tom Cruise, who counselled him to make the move, and that he will also like J-Lo and her husband Marc Anthony, whom he met briefly at the Cruise wedding - but the answer is, largely, alone.

An LA source said: 'David hasn't yet shown much enthusiasm about coming here. He has been a bit slow on the uptake, but it has now dawned on him that when he gets over here, there will only be a short amount of time before the Spice Girls will be kicking off again.

'He says he wants a quiet life. He is supportive of her career - but he hates it when she gets ambitious.

'Victoria's argument is that she never got the chance to peak in her career. As much as she supports him, it galls her that he got the MBE and all her achievements have been forgotten. After all, she was in the most successful girl group ever.'

David is still making - in public at least - all the right noises about his move. 'For the kids to live there, with great weather almost every day, going to a great school, the whole lifestyle, the passion for sport... I know we'll fit in,' he says.

Beckham was described by one popular columnist recently as 'an effete British man who plays a predominantly children's sport for a living'.

It is true that, more than once, David Beckham has come back when everyone has written him off.

But will this 'grace under pressure' be enough to sustain him when he finds himself playing alongside the likes of Nathan Sturgis, Quavas Kirk and Gavin Glinton? Will he really learn anything from Frank Yallop, formerly of Ipswich Town? Won't he be miserable, bored and frustrated?

And so the question remains: even if he can put aside his own ambitions - and that's a really big if - how long will David Beckham tolerate being left alone by his wife while she pursues those unfulfilled ambitions of hers?

Money matters

The money, it seems, is not quite the £125 million mega-deal trumpeted back in January by Fuller. David Beckham will be on a salary of around £3.25 million, with a further £1.75 million on top of that in guaranteed income from side deals such as gate receipts and shirt sales. Then he will earn money, as before, from big commercial deals such as the ones he currently holds with Adidas and Gillette. He also has full image rights, and will be able to profit massively if he can succeed where Pele and George Best failed and turn America on to what they call 'soccer' - a game regarded by the great mass of Americans as a game mostly suitable for teenage girls

Plain talk

She is trying to hire a family to act as live-in housekeepers, preferably comprising four staff members. She also wants to find two nannies to look after Brooklyn, eight, Romeo, four, and Cruz, two. The salary on offer is an eye-watering £6,000 a month. Her requirements - apart from plain looks - are that the applicants should have perfect good manners and perfect spoken English