Beckham in good shape to succeed

SOCCER/News: "Come esta usted, Senor Beckham?" It was the third significant Spanish question the most famous living Englishman has been asked in recent weeks, and like its predecessors - "Would you like to play for Real Madrid?" and "How much do you want?" - it received a positive response yesterday.

Senor Beckham was feeling fine, thank you very much. And if anyone doubted it, they could listen to a brief precis of the results from a battery of tests conducted during a 90-minute appointment with a medical team from his new club at a clinic in a Madrid suburb.

After coming through the medical without a hitch, Beckham made a special visit to Real's Bernabeu Stadium in the evening to complete his £25 million move from Manchester United, signing a four-year contract.

A physical examination is a crucial element in the transfer of any footballer. In the case of Beckham, who represents an investment by his new employers of around $80 million in salary and payments to his old club, over the next five years, it became another episode in a mind-boggling football soap opera.

Occasionally these medical tests turn out to be more than a formality, revealing an unsuspected congenital weakness that can persuade the buying club to pull out of the deal. A hint of good news to come had been contained in Beckham's golden smile as he left the Hospital de la Zarzuela yesterday afternoon, posing briefly for photographs in front of a board carrying the name of the pharmaceuticals company which had sponsored the examination.

"We are of the opinion that this player is in perfect condition," Alfonso del Carral, Real Madrid's chief medical officer, told a press conference in a marquee on the clinic's roof.

Extensive X-rays indicated only one weakness. Full movement has not yet returned to Beckham's right wrist following a fall during England's exhibition match against South Africa in Durban six weeks ago, when he broke a scaphoid bone. "In our opinion this has no bearing on his condition as a footballer," Del Carral said. There was no mention of any lingering damage from the broken metatarsal which sent him into last summer's World Cup less than fully fit.

The analysis of Beckham's blood and urine samples will be known in a few days' time, completing the first of two stages of testing. The second stage begins on July 24th, when Beckham joins the club's galaxy of superestrellas - Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos - for monitoring of his athletic fitness.

Yesterday, as he arrived in a private jet at a military airport outside Madrid, it was five years to the day since he was sent off in England's World Cup match against Argentina and entered a year-long ordeal of vilification. Now he can barely move for adoring faces.

Around 20 television crews and twice as many photographers greeted him at the clinic, with a sprinkling of fans. Among them was Felipe Morge, 10, who became the first person to obtain Beckham's signature on a Real Madrid shirt, and therefore a minor local celebrity, when Manchester United played at the Bernabeu Stadium three months ago.

Beckham and his family spent last night at an hotel, after he had met the Real president, Florentina Perez to sign his contract. Their campaign to recoup the cost of his arrival will begin today, when he receives his shirt from Perez and the sale of replicas can begin.

Meanwhile, David Bellion yesterday became Manchester United's first signing of the summer but his arrival was overshadowed by complications threatening the transfers of Ronaldinho and Eric Djemba-Djemba.

Talks with Nantes about Djemba-Djemba's proposed move to Old Trafford broke down last night with United unable to agree a fee. United are thought to have offered £2 million, whereas Nantes want twice that figure.

If that was not enough, Peter Kenyon, the club's chief executive, is becoming increasingly perturbed by Paris St-Germain's tactics in negotiating Ronaldinho's transfer.

Kenyon will travel to Paris today hoping to agree a fee for Ronaldinho.

But after originally floating a figure close to £10 million, PSG president Francis Graille has now declared in the French media that he wants around £30 million. Although United remain optimistic that the actual asking price is closer to £18 million, Graille claimed Real Madrid and Barcelona had already made firm offers.

Guardian Service