No deal. Bye Bye Becks

What a kerfuffle! as Lou Todd would say, all caused by Pedja Mijatovic's comments about David Beckham in an interview with Sky Italia yesterday.

In what some sections of the press interpreted as a Freudian slip, and others as a language mix-up, Mijatovic was asked in Italian whether he would renew David Beckham's contract this week. The Montenegrin Real Madrid sports director, who did play for 3 seasons with Fiorentina initially replied "No", shortly followed by "Beckham’s contract has not been renewed.".

However, all that was left behind as a footnote in this long-running saga when the player issued a statement earlier today in which he said, diplomatically as ever: "This week, Real Madrid asked me to make a decision regarding my future and the offer to extend my contract by a further two seasons.

"After discussing several options with my family and advisers to either stay here at Madrid or join other major British and European clubs, I have decided to join the Los Angeles Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year.

"I would like to thank the supporters and people of Madrid who have made my family and I feel so welcome in my time here, making this an extremely difficult decision to make. I have enjoyed my time in Spain enormously and I am extremely grateful to the club for giving me the opportunity to play for such a great team and their amazing fans."

[Note to his PR staff: It's "my family and me", not "my family and I"]

Beckham has reportedly agreed a five-year deal with LA Galaxy, which would see him end his footballing days over in the States. Arguably it means he has decided there is no chance of being recalled to the England team and there's no point in potentially winning any major trophies if he's not playing regular first team football. He will see out his contract at Real Madrid which ends on the 30th of June, and make his MLS debut in August, going from galáctico to the Galaxy.