Beckham aims to end playing days at Real
England football captain David Beckham said staying at Real Madrid for the rest of his career was a real possibility.
England football captain David Beckham said staying at Real Madrid for the rest of his career was a real possibility.
Beckham, who talked about his new life in Spain, his new teammates and his old boss Alex Ferguson, said remaining at the nine-time European champions for as long as possible was his aim, the Sunday Times reported.
"I'd like to stay here for as long as I can," Beckham said. "The contract's for four years, but if I can extend it, and Real Madrid still want me, then of course I'd love to."
"Definitely, without a doubt I'd consider spending the rest of my career here."
In the two months Beckham has been at the Santiago Bernabeu club, he has already made his mark.
He scored in a 3-0 victory against FC Tokyo in the Far East pre-season tour, he also found the net in a win by the same scoreline against Real Mallorca in the Spanish Super Cup on his home debut, and then he netted the first goal of the league season in a 2-1 success over Real Betis.
He said the players have helped him acclimatize, particularly good English speakers Luis Figo and coach Carlos Queiroz.
"It's been great having Carlos in Madrid. I'm very lucky," Beckham said. "He's probably done more than anyone to make sure I felt involved right from the off. He has bent over backwards to help me settle down in the team, and I really appreciate that."
"It's been a bonus I hadn't been expecting at all. Especially early on it helped that the coach spoke good English. He and Luis Figo, whose English is really good too, took a lot of pressure off me that might have come with not being able to say much more in Spanish than 'hola' and 'gracias' to my teammates."
Beckham's book 'My Side' has finally been published, after serialisation in the British press, to bring Beckham a sense of relief and he said he hoped it would give a more informed view of his relationship with Ferguson.
The rapport with the Manchester United manager reached a low point in February in the United dressing room when Ferguson kicked a football boot which hit Beckham just above an eye after they lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup.
"I understand why people have jumped on what happened between me and the gaffer during my last season at United," Beckham said. "It's the obvious story, even though it's not anything like the whole story. There was so much more to my relationship with Alex Ferguson."
"In a very positive way, I'm where I am today because of him. I know I'm privileged to have been involved with United while he was the boss."
When asked what he thought of former United chief executive Peter Kenyon moving to Chelsea, Beckham said: "That's not my business any more, is it? I know Peter always dealt really fairly with me. All I can say is I wish him good luck."
Beckham laughed when asked about rumours of him moving to Chelsea, saying all he cared about was making "a dream come true" in Spain.
Chelsea took their spending to over 111 million pounds (177 million dollars) when the English Premiership side, bankrolled by Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, completed the signing of France midfielder Claude Makelele from Real Madrid two weeks ago.
Beckham also hinted he might end up in the United States once his playing days are over. "I get the feeling that Americans are proud about being American all day, every day," Beckham said. "And that's something I admire, because I'm so proud of being English. I admire their sense of pride in their country."