KEY POINTS:
David Beckham has a clause in his £128m ($350m) Los Angeles Galaxy contract that stipulates he can play for England whether he is selected for Euro 2008 qualifiers or friendlies and he will resist any attempts by his new club to stop him playing for his country.
The LA Galaxy general manager, Alexei Lalas, said on Sunday that he would seek to restrict Beckham from playing in friendlies should he continue to be selected next season.
"I don't want to stand in the way of a player representing his country but we have to be prudent and understand they have to be the appropriate games. I would think they would have to be competitive matches," Lalas said.
However, Beckham is understood to be adamant that he will not be prevented from representing England and would even invoke Fifa regulations that dictate players must be released for international duty.
With so much money staked on Beckham's popularity by LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer, the question of his availability to make the 11-hour flight to London to play for England is set to be a difficult topic between the player and his new employees.
If Beckham thought his former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was opposed to international friendlies, the MLS are likely to be even less taken with the idea.
Beckham will make his debut for the Galaxy in a friendly against Chelsea on 21 July.
Before then - and after the end of the Spanish league season - the midfielder has told his new club that he will keep fit with a private instructor.
Beckham is already in a quandary because the MLS season runs from April to November and his fixture list for LA Galaxy throws up some serious clashes.
The team play the Colorado Rapids the day England play their Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel at Wembley.
Four days later they play Russia at home - one day before the Galaxy's local derby with Chivas USA.
The October visit of Estonia to Wembley clashes with a Galaxy home game against Toronto while the crucial trip to Russia is a day before Beckham is required to be 4,660 miles away in LA playing the New York Red Bulls.
And that is before friendlies are brought into consideration - England traditionally play at least one in August, a month in which the Galaxy have six league games.
- INDEPENDENT
