Guardian Madrid put the pressure on target before Barcelona poll Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez wants David Beckham to play his first game for the club in Tokyo on August 5. But before the chain of events is triggered to take Beckham to the Spanish capital, Perez has demanded that Beckham publicly announce his wish to play for Real. Madrid have made it clear to Beckham's advisers that they want an early declaration of intent from the England captain, arguing that he is now at liberty to do so given that Manchester United have agreed to sell him to Barcelona if Joan Laporta wins the presidential elections at the Catalan club tomorrow.
Perez has successfully held to his election promise of three years ago to bring the biggest star in world football to his club each year and has never openly failed in any of his audacious moves. But the terms and conditions that Madrid have placed before such players as Luis Figo, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane include Perez's demand that his target must first make public his desire to move to the Bernabeu. Perez and Real's sporting director Jorge Valdano have vowed not to allow a repeat of their problem with Ronaldo last season. The Brazilian missed pre-season training because of his holiday in South America after winning the World Cup and did not reach full fitness with Madrid until early December. Given the fact that Laporta has just edged ahead of Lluis Bassat, Madrid would prefer that Beckham made a pledge to Madrid this morning and end Laporta's chances - but that seems an outside chance. Real's urgency is made greater by the fact that Beckham is due to leave for Tokyo on Wednesday for his promotional tour which will take him to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City over 10 days when both Real and Laporta would prefer to be negotiating with him. Therefore Madrid would want him to state his wish to move to Real so that they can negotiate openly with United and behind the scenes with SFX, Beckham's advisers, with a view to incorporating Beckham in their pre-season training, expected to start on July 21. One remaining problem is that Laporta's agreed price of a basic �25m for Beckham, with incentive clauses which could make the deal more lucrative for United if he wins trophies next season at the Nou Camp, is too high a price for Perez. Madrid want to offer around �17m plus a maximum of two players. One would be Geremi but a second will not be Claude Makelele, whom Sir Alex Ferguson feels is too old at 30. But it is Beckham's extraordinary ability to open up the Asian market, where their marketing director Jose Angel Sanchez believes the battle for global commercial domination in football will be fought between United and Real over the next five years, which will finally seal the deal. The Real executive and former striker Emilio Butragueno said yesterday: "We are delighted to be playing Tokiota FC in Tokyo on August 5 and we will include all our 'famous' players in that game. This is really important for Madrid, because it is the start of a long-planned strategy to increase our impact in Japan. We have many fans there and we want to create a permanent link." Further games will be arranged there depending on whether Madrid finish first, second or third in the Spanish league, which will dictate whether they must qualify with ties starting on August 12 or 13, for the Champions League. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/GtUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
