SOCCER:DAVID BECKHAM has been offered the chance to return to the Premier League by Everton after David Moyes revealed he would be keen to secure the former England captain on a short-term loan from Los Angeles Galaxy during the mid-winter transfer window.

Everton are short of options on the right of midfield and are yet to receive any indication from Landon Donovan, Beckham’s team-mate at the Major League Soccer club, over whether he would be willing to return to Goodison Park to repeat last season’s 12-week spell.

“I have had no definite yes or no from Landon,” said Moyes. “It will be middle to the end of December when he makes his mind up.”

Beckham appears a realistic option given his desire to remain involved in the England set-up and add to his 115 caps, with the veteran aware that he must be playing at a competitive level to be in contention for the internationals in the spring.

The 35-year-old, who is a close friend of the Everton captain, Phil Neville, has spent the last two MLS close seasons on loan at Milan. It was while he was there that he ruptured his achilles in March, an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup finals.

“If David wanted to pick up the phone and say he wants to come to Everton, we would be here for him,” said Moyes, whose side have lost once in nine league games after a typically slow start to the campaign. “He would only need to pick up the phone to me or Phil.

“We would have to look into it financially, but if he came and said to me: ‘I would like to come and play’, I would have to go to the chairman and ask if we could do it. For example, do we think we could make it work by selling enough shirts?”

Beckham returned from his achilles injury in October but finished the season well enough with LA Galaxy, who were beaten by FC Dallas in the MLS Western Conference play-off final almost two weeks ago. He had been suffering from a slight groin injury but is on tour with his club in Australia – they are due to play Newcastle United Jets today – before travelling to Zurich next week as part of England’s 2018 World Cup bid team.