Football: PR guru Becks will Figo it out fast at Real

I TAKE my hat off to David Beckham. With all the furore surrounding his transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid this week, I thought he handled it just brilliantly in front of the world's press.

The PR circus was very much in full flight and yet Becks took it all very much in his stride.

There are various reasons why I think he'll do well in Madrid.

Apart from the fact it is a lovely city, which will appeal, Madrid will offer him and his family a freedom that they could only have dreamed of in England.

I've been out with Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, who live in the city, and found the Spanish are respectful of their football stars' privacy.

I also feel that the Spanish and Real Madrid game is well suited to England's captain. He may be the fittest player in the club, but he'll find it not as frantic as the Premiership.

It would be easy to say Madrid have made a tactical error in buying Becks because the one thing they don't need is another forward player. Over the years they've struggled at the back and will now rely heavily on Pavon and Helguera, but they desperately need another world class defender.

Admittedly, that is the way that Real have always played ever since the fifties and sixties. He will, however, slot in very nicely into the Real team but fans will have to expect that it will take him more than three or four games to acclimatise.

One hurdle he will have to overcome is of course the lingo which didn't take team-mate Steve McManaman long to pick up because he's a bit more with it when it comes to languages.

But there are a lot of players at Madrid like Solari and new boss Carlos Queiroz speak good English.

It will also be different to when Ronaldo signed for Real.

It must be remembered that although he's as big an image as Becks - who is not necessarily the best player in the world but certainly the most well-known - Becks didn't come from Catalan rivals Barcelona and that will have added immense pressure to Ronaldo.

The fans will have expected him to play well from the start, even though he wasn't fit. And the fact he scored twice after coming off the bench in his first game didn't help his cause either because the fans then expected him to score a hat-trick in the next game - which of course he didn't.

That's why I think the fans will give their new No.23 a lot more leeway.

It will also be interesting to see how Luis Figo fits in. He hasn't played well over the last 12 months for the team that the Spanish papers are calling Las Galacticus (the all stars). And I think if he continues to struggle then Figo could be faded out.

One thing is for sure this move can only benefit Beckham. He will learn about the European game, which England coach Sven Goran Eriksson says he must do, and the fact La Liga is shorter than the Premiership means Becks will be a lot fresher to lead his country.

THE next man to head to Spain will be Leeds Mark Viduka.

He has the choice of either going to Barcelona or Roma but I think he will favour the Spanish sun. He is a player Barca can afford especially as I feel that Patrick Kluivert will be on his way sooner rather than later.

Dutch striker Kluivert may only be 24, but he needs someone to sharpen up his goal scoring technique. He doesn't score as many as he should and the fact that he is now playing in a deeper role only highlights this.

The simple fact is Kluivert needs an Alex Ferguson or a Bobby Robson.

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