Real ready to make Beckham 60-million-dollar man

David Beckham's iconic status in Asia has convinced Real Madrid to splash out nearly $60 million to prize him away from Manchester United, a British newspaper claimed on Sunday.

Quoting an anonymous top level Old Trafford source, the Mail on Sunday said Beckham would move to Madrid for a British transfer record 38 million pounds (57 million dollars) in the summer.

"The deal is virtually done," the source told the newspaper. "But everyone here is desperately trying to keep it under wraps until the season has been completed."

The story was immediately and emphatically rubbished by a United spokesman who described it as "categorically untrue."

But it has emerged just days after United's Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo revealed that Beckham, 27, had been asking him about the quality of schools in Madrid. Beckham and his pop star wife, Victoria, have two young sons, Brooklyn and Romeo.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed last week that the stories about Beckham moving to Madrid had been orchestrated by the Spanish giants to destabilise his side ahead of their Champions League quarter-final.

After Real won the first leg 3-1 a different question arose: would Beckham, who had a poor match in the Bernabeu, get into a Real side that already has Luis Figo filling his position on the right of midfield.

But according to the Mail on Sunday, Real believe the deal would be worth doing purely because of the spin-offs in marketing terms.

"In commercial terms I want us to copy and beat United," Real president Florentino Perez was quoted as saying.

The paper even suggested that Real coach Vincente del Bosque had already worked out how he could fit Beckham into a side graced by Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo, as well as Figo.

"If Beckham signs, I know how I would use him in my line-up," del Bosque reportedly said.

Real may have won Europe's top prize nine times to United's two, but they still lag the English club in terms of global profile.

The quickest way to close that gap would be to sign a player whose looks, love of fashion and links to the celebrity worlds of pop and show business, have made him a rival to Tiger Woods as the planet's most marketable sportsman.

The Beckham-to-Real speculation was sparked in earnest last month when the Madrid club's director of football, Jorge Valdano, described the England captain as Real's "next big project".

The story was given added credence by the strains in Beckham's relationship with United boss Alex Ferguson that were underlined by this season's dressing room altercation which ended with the player being hit above the eye by a boot kicked by the manager.

It has also been suggested that Ferguson will be forced to sell this summer if he is to secure the top quality striker he craves as back-up for Ruud van Nistelrooy, although the manager himself is on record as saying he has no intention of selling Beckham.

"Why would I want to sell my best players?" he said recently.

Beckham has also been linked to a possible move to Italy -- an option reportedly supported by his Italo-phile wife.

United though would have to carefully consider any decision to sell. If a replacement of similar quality was not brought in, the loss of Beckham would be likely to trigger a massive backlash to fans, particularly if, as seems likely, it came in the wake of Real knocking the Red Devils out of the Champions League.