Calderon Begs Beckham to Stay

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon is urging David Beckham to stay with the club. His plea for Beckham to return comes as 'Los Galacticos' are on the verge of winning La Liga for the first time since the 2002-2003 season, the last one before Beckham's arrival.

Many fans and members of the media have criticized Beckham's inability to win a trophy since joining Madrid from Manchester United in 2003 - those critics have changed their tune as the team's recent turnaround was connected to Beckham's return to form. Unfortunately for the club, during the early days of the season, Beckham was deemed expendable by those in charge, leading him to sign a landmark contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

Now that Becks has nearly brought the title back to the Santiago Bernabeu, he is being hailed as a savior and implored to stay. Calderon has even suggested that Beckham's contract contained an escape clause that would allow the superstar to opt-out of his move to America. "He is playing at a very high level," said Calderon. "We will have to sit down with his representatives to look at this clause and decide what to do. We are going to do all we can to make him stay."

Never one to miss an opportunity to grab the spotlight, Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas fought back over the plot to keep Beckham in Spain. "I don't doubt the fact that Real Madrid would love to have David Beckham back... but that ship has sailed," said Lalas. When asked if Beckham's contract has a so-called 'escape clause', he flatly denied it: "No."

Lalas went on to say that David Beckham will definitely begin his vacation immediately following Real Madrid's final game on Sunday and will be arriving to play in Los Angeles later this summer. The exact date hasn't been nailed down: "To be honest with you, it's changing. It goes back and forth. We do want to give him the time to rest his body and mind before facing what is shaping up to be a pretty crazy second half of the season here."

The Galaxy can't wait for Beckham's services to become available. After another loss this weekend, the team has fallen to 1-4-3 on the year, tied for last place in the league with Real Salt Lake. Can David Beckham revive two teams' championship hopes in the same calendar year? Only time will tell.