David Beckham, whose alleged lack of eloquence in his native tongue makes him the target of countless stand-up comedians, delivered his first public words in Spanish yesterday.
"Gracias," he said, with the correct Castilian enunciation, after the ceremonial handing-over of the No 23 shirt that he will wear with his new team, Real Madrid.
"Ahala Madrid!" he added, a phrase which forms the basis of the club anthem and is the local equivalent of "Come on, United".
Reverting to English, he delivered a few words designed to allay suspicions, harboured most prominently by his former manager at Manchester United, that he has become more interested in celebrity than in his profession.
"I've always loved football," he said. "Of course, I love my family and I have a wonderful life. But football is everything to me and joining Real Madrid is a dream come true."
Earlier, in an interview with Real Madrid's TV channel, he had said: "I don't want to be star. I just want to be part of a great team." He also remarked that his son Brooklyn could already say Áhola! and adios: "He'll certainly be bilingual before I am."
Beckham will not be wearing his familiar No 7 shirt with Real Madrid because that number is already worn by Raul.
Number 23, formerly the property of Pedro Munitis, a winger who left the club some time ago, has probably been chosen because of its associations with the retired US basketball star Michael Jordan, the last superstar whose fame reached every corner of the world. The US and China, where basketball is also big, are among the developing markets into which Real Madrid hope Beckham will lead them.
More than 500 journalists and photographers were present at Real Madrid's sports complex to witness yesterday's seven-minute ceremony, during which the club's president, the billionaire construction magnate Florentino Perez, dropped a perfect soundbite into his welcoming speech. "Beckham has come from the Theatre of Dreams," Perez said, "to join the team of his dreams."
Preceded by the members of the junta, as the club's committee is known, Beckham arrived on stage flanked by Perez and Alfredo Di Stefano, the star of the great Real side of the 1950s.
"Welcome to our beloved club," Di Stefano said, handing over the shirt. "May you be happy and successful."
Leaving the platform, Beckham changed out of his pale blue suit and reappeared a few minutes later on a nearby pitch in full Madrid kit, ready to demonstrate his skills to photographers and a small grandstand full of children. A boy appeared and was presented with the first official replica Real Madrid shirt to bear the name and number of Beckham, who received a hug in return.
