A Galaxy far, far away

So, as expected, David Beckham sets sail for his new life in America as a Spanish champion, after finally winning his first trophy in four years at Real Madrid last night.

Beckham of course will have to say a rather large 'gracias' to team-mate Jose Antonio Reyes, who struck twice after replacing the former England captain in Real's 3-1 win over Mallorca, a victory that confirmed the La Liga title.

So now that Beckham's career at the top level of European football is over, what are we to make of it?

It is easy to criticise him of course. To label him an overly fashion conscious, media hounding show pony who's only interested in how many pictures of him appear in the newspapers and how many noughts are added to his bank balance. I'll admit I've done it myself from time to time.

But the last few months have seen a new Beckham emerge. Given the cold shoulder by Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, he has fought back with excellent performances to prove both men wrong. While in McClaren's case he's unlikely to be the last to do so, it showed a new maturity from the 'Galactico.'

It is difficult to evaluate Beckham performances without bowing to the amazing amount of hype that follows the man. If you believed all you read and heard you'd be forgiven for thinking he was the only player on the pitch in the last two England games and that he virtually won La Liga single-handedly. In fact, Real only looked like scoring once he was substituted last night, Reyes adding much needed pace and directness and, crucially, two championship winning goals.

That said, there is little doubt that Beckham played a huge part in Real's success. Once Capello had swallowed his pride and put him back in the side, the steady supply of quality crosses from the right never stopped. For Ruud van Nistelrooy it must have felt like he was back playing in front of Stretford End. He didn't miss then, and he didn't miss now.

John Terry, Michael Owen and, expertly, Peter Crouch were all set up on international duty. All made clever runs for the number seven to find them. But the question is will Landon Donovan and the like make the same runs for Beckham in LA? In short, will he be simply too good for them?

That remains to be seen, but the nagging doubts are there. Has he gone to the great retirement home in Los Angeles too early? Surely he could do a job in the Premiership for a couple of years? Real would certainly love to keep him.

I'm not criticising his decision to move to LA. If someone offered me god knows how many millions to go and live amongst the 'beautiful people' of Hollywood I'd seriously consider it. It's just a shame that we won't see him on the greatest club stages any more. I was beginning to warm to the new Beckham.

Not to worry, I'm sure we'll still see enough of him. He might be off to America, but David Beckham will be an ever-present on our screens for some time yet. He wouldn't have it any other way, and I suspect most of us wouldn't either.