'Beckham went to Spain with the belief that he could free himself of the Old Trafford servitude to the wing and become a genuine playmaker. The attempted transition has failed. The veteran Mallorca coach, even before his team had won on Saturday, delivered a judgement, which was all the more devastating for being made without malice.
"He's finding it difficult in the middle," Luis Aragonés said. "He passes acceptably and works hard, but he doesn't think quickly. In the centre of midfield it's very important to know where you are going to place the ball before it comes to you. He doesn't think in a hurry."
Sir Alex Ferguson might like to frame the cutting on his office wall at Carrington. The Manchester United manager never budged from his belief that Beckham's proper position was on the flank. If a devastating cross is a player's greatest weapon, after all, it helps if he sticks to the wing.
Real have not transformed Beckham or our perceptions of him. As well as being the first of Pérez's galacticos to complete his debut season without a medal, he is the only one who cannot speak conversational Spanish. In Madrid they view him as something of a recluse and he has not embedded himself in the local culture.'