Two days after David Beckham announced he had agreed to sign for Los Angeles Galaxy, a furious Fabio Capello responded by saying the midfielder would never play for Real Madrid again.

The Italian justified his decision by saying the former England captain would be unable to focus on the job in hand and would lack motivation after signing a $250 million contract with his new club.

Beckham was reduced to watching his side's home matches from his glass-encased private box in the upper tiers of the Bernabeu and his career at Real Madrid looked to have come to an ignominious end.

Five months on, however, the 32-year-old was celebrating winning the league.

Despite hobbling off in the second half of the dramatic 3-1 comeback victory over Real Mallorca that sealed the title on Sunday, Beckham threw himself into the party on the pitch at the Bernabeu.

It is a tribute to Beckham's pride, professionalism and persistence that he refused to accept his England or Real Madrid careers were over and bounced back to finish the season on a high.

Four years ago, Beckham arrived at the Bernabeu from Manchester United amid a blaze of publicity, receiving the sort of reception normally reserved for a film star rather than a footballer.

The sport's most marketable player was the jewel in the crown of a "Galactico" superteam that already included three of the biggest names in the sport - Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

The addition of the England captain would make Madrid invincible on and off the pitch, or so thought then president Florentino Perez.

Richest club

Beckham delivered on the financial side, with Real overtaking his old team as the richest club in the world and cracking the lucrative Asian market thanks to his presence, but sporting success eluded the nine-times European champions.

The irony was that although he was seen by many as the ultimate expression of Perez's glamorous recruitment policy, the midfielder's work ethic, professionalism and team spirit made him the antithesis of the Galactico era.

The problem for Beckham, who had turned down the chance to go to Real's arch-rivals Barcelona, was that he had joined a team that was in decline and almost constant institutional chaos.

Beckham had played under just one manager, Alex Ferguson, during his 14 years at Manchester United. In his four years at Real he had six coaches, five sporting directors and four club presidents.

He did his utmost to prove he had not just been signed to improve shirt sales, but his overblown media profile often obscured his genuine skills as a footballer.

Beckham was dropped from the England squad after the 2006 World Cup because manager Steve McClaren wanted to make it clear he had broken from the era of predecessor Sven Goran Eriksson.

This season at Real, Beckham found himself marginalized because he was so closely identified with the Galacticos.

Capello decided early on that Beckham was expendable and the midfielder quickly became a fringe player, starting a handful of the club's league games in the first half of the season.

Petulant response

The midfielder had gone on record as saying he wanted to end his career at the Spanish giants, but his experience on the bench helped convince him his future was elsewhere.

What he was unprepared for, however, was Real's petulant response to his announcement that he had opted to continue his career in the United States.

Real president Ramon Calderon described Beckham as "half a film star", while sporting director Predrag Mijatovic hinted the club were glad to see the back of him.

Just as he had done after McClaren's decision to drop him, Beckham bit his lip in public and knuckled down in training, impressing Capello so much that he reversed his decision and brought the player back from exile a month later.

Beckham's return was curtailed by a sending off - the fifth of his Real career - and a knee ligament injury that put him out of action for seven weeks but with Madrid on the up he was back again at the end of April.

A crucial assist in the 2-1 win over Valencia, another in the 4-1 win at Athletic Bilbao and he was now seen as an indispensable part of the team.

Beckham and his former Manchester United team mate Ruud van Nistelrooy turned out to be Real's two most influential players in the run-in to the end of the season that culminated in the club's 30th league title.

Marketing and a desire to boost their global image were the driving forces behind Real's decision to sign Beckham, but it is his footballing skills the club are now so disappointed to lose.

(China Daily via Agencies June 19, 2007)