NPR: Real Madrid Says It Wants Beckham to Forget L.A.

Real Madrid Says It Wants Beckham to Forget L.A.

David Beckham, the newest "savior" of U.S. soccer, is more in demand these days than a ticket behind home plate at Fenway for a Red Sox-Yankees playoff game.

The English soccer player, whose decision to join the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer generated all kinds of headlines in January, is making them again as he prepares for what will be his final game with Real Madrid of Spain.

The president of Real Madrid, Ramon Calderon, alarmed American soccer fans when he suggested that Beckham's contract with Los Angeles includes an escape clause and said that he would do everything possible to convince Beckham to remain in sunny Spain. Alexi Lalas, president of the Galaxy, said that's baloney and that Calderon should just focus on this weekend's Real Madrid game, in which the team will play for the league championship.

To me, it all feels like a way to remind people that Beckham is coming to America. Beckham and his wife, Victoria, seem to want to be L.A. royalty so bad it oozes out of them. (Actually, Beckham, who has been enjoying a career resurgence as of late, might get to be real royalty, if rumors of his potential knighthood are true.)

11:34 AM ET | 06-11-2007 | permalink

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