Real Madrid powerbrokers set date for Beckham talks

Real Madrid are scheduled to meet with David Beckham's advisors on June 23.

The Telegraph says the transfer summit will be held in Beckham's absence, but will involve Real sports chief Jorge Valdano and president Florentino Perez.

Valdano had refused to comment on Beckham since Madrid's five-point statement, on April 29, denied any contact with the player.

Yesterday, however, he admitted: "There are icons in football and Beckham is one of them."

"We have in our team a lot of players from the south [southern hemisphere] - we have Ronaldo and [Zinedine] Zidane, who has Arabic origins. We also have Argentine and Spanish players."

"We represent everything that's Latin and Beckham is from the north. I think he's an addition which would be especially attractive - above all to the media."