Beckham may not play for Milan – Seedorf

AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf believes it's quite possible that new loan signing David Beckham won't play a single match for the Italian giants.

Beckham, 33, is due to arrive at the San Siro in January after agreeing a temporary move from LA Galaxy during Major League Soccer's close season.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder hopes this will keep him in the thoughts of England manager Fabio Capello, who has made it clear he won't pick players for February's friendly against Spain unless they are actively involved with a club team.

However, Seedorf told Sky Sports here Thursday: “I don't even know if he'll be able to play for us. I mean the first goal is for him to get fit and in the best shape possible.

“Training with a club like AC Milan will definitely improve his game even if it's only from a training point of view,” the Dutch midfielder added.

“But I don't know if he'll play, that's another thing completely.

“He should focus on his physical state, train as hard as possible in a structure that's one of the best in the world to prepare for games with England which I think is his final goal and that's right.

“2010 (when the next World Cup takes place in South Africa) is not that far away so he has to work hard and show Capello he's still here.”

Nevertheless Seedorf, said he was looking forward to welcoming Beckham, now just one short of 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore's England record of 108 caps for an outfield player, to Milan.

“I was in Albania for a friendly match when we found out,” he said. “There was a lot of discussion about Beckham coming and we were all excited about how it would work, how he would fit in.

“Everyone is excited of course, we're looking forward to it.

“Personally I will help him out to achieve his goals, knowing that he's a great professional and he'll help us to do the same thing.”

Meanwhile Milan's Brazil star Ronaldinho, who played against Beckham when at Barcelona, said he would have no qualms about handing over free-kick duties to the Englishman, one of his few rivals as a dead-ball expert.

“That's not a problem, it could be a problem for the team we're playing against,” he told Setanta Sports. “I hope to learn a lot with David Beckham.”