David Beckham will discuss a new two-year contract with Real Madrid next week.
"There is a significant deal on the table from Real. It's slightly more than he's currently on," Beckham's agent, Simon Oliveira, told the BBC on Wednesday.
The former England captain's current contract with Madrid ends in June, but he is allowed to negotiate with other clubs during this month's transfer window and can leave with Madrid's permission.
But Oliveira said Beckham would "know by March what he is going to do," indicating that the midfielder would prefer to stay at Madrid until the end of the season.
"David intends to play a major role for Real Madrid for the remainder of the season," Oliveira said. "The primary reason for any decision David makes will be a footballing one. He wants to take time over this decision. It will be the last significant deal of his football career."
The 31-year-old's place at Madrid has been in question with the arrival of midfielder Fernando Gago from Argentine club Boca Juniors last month.
Beckham has started only seven games in 24 this season, being used mostly off the bench by manager Fabio Capello.
It has been suggested Beckham could return to the Premier League, move to Italy or play for a Major League Soccer club in the US. Los Angeles Galaxy is among the clubs reportedly interested.
The British press had been reporting that image rights -- of which Madrid holds 50 percent -- were holding up a new contract, a claim Oliveira said was not "a deal breaker."
Madrid is third in the Spanish league with 32 points, five behind leader Sevilla.
Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5. Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors. The Taiwanese
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
West Ham United’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday left Tottenham Hotspur realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for English Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea today, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal-difference over West Ham. “Overall bad performance. Too many things [went wrong], I think we gifted them the goals,” West Ham head caoch Nuno Espirito Santo
Jannik Sinner has his eyes on a first Roland Garros title after winning the Italian Open on Sunday to claim a record-extending sixth consecutive Masters 1000 tournament victory. World No. 1 Sinner beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to complete the “Golden Masters” by winning all of the ATP’s top-ranked events, in the process becoming the first Italian men’s champion in Rome since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago. Only Novak Djokovic had previously won all nine Masters 1000 events before Sunday, but there was little doubt about Sinner triumphing over the past 10 days. Sinner heads to Roland Garros, which starts at the weekend,
RSS