Beckham is still hopeful Milan deal can be done

Published on Wednesday 4 March 2009 22:16

DAVID Beckham has reiterated his desire to move permanently to AC Milan from Los Angeles Galaxy.

The 33-year-old midfielder wants to remain with Milan to improve his chances of making England's team for next year's World Cup. He has scored two goals in 11 games for the Italian team, nine of them in the Serie A.

"I want to stay ... I know negotiations are on and, hopefully, I can continue to play with Milan," Beckham said from Doha where Milan won friendly 2-1 against Al Sadd last night.

"My experience with AC Milan has been incredible. It is one of the biggest clubs in the world, some of the most famous players in the world are at AC Milan."

Beckham is due to report back with Galaxy next week, however, Milan chairman Adriano Galliani said on Tuesday a deal allowing Beckham to extend his stay with his club until the end of the Italian season is close.

Meanwhile, Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho will learn today what punishment he will receive for a tirade against his Serie A rivals and referees. His rant on Tuesday followed a row over a contested penalty in Sunday's 3-3 draw with AS Roma.

Inter striker Mario Balotelli was accused of diving by Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi and all three are now in trouble.

Mourinho, who also argued that second-placed Juventus had benefited from refereeing mistakes, said: "I don't like intellectual prostitution. I like intellectual honesty. There has been great intellectual manipulation over the last few days."

Juventus responded with an angry statement on their website. It read: "Juventus expresses shock and indignation and asks Inter to disassociate itself publicly from these comments. With his statements Inter's coach lacked respect not only to Juventus and its 14 million fans, but also to the whole of Italian soccer."