Kaka wants long stay for Beckham

AC Milan star Kaka has expressed his hope that David Beckham will stay at the Italian giants beyond his current loan spell.

The England midfielder is due to return to the Los Angeles Galaxy in March but Brazilian playmaker Kaka said Beckham had already shown his star qualities.

The 33-year-old played 89 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Roma yesterday plus a friendly against Hamburg last week.

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Kaka told a news conference in Zurich ahead of Fifa's World Player of the Year gala: "David has shown that he is a player ready to run the extra mile.

"The first matches showed quite clearly what his qualities are and his passing ability and his capacity to play well.

"Perhaps these first two months will lead to six months or to one year, to more contracts.

"I certainly would like to play more with him."

Beckham's advisers have been insistent that there are no plans for him to stay at AC Milan beyond 9 March.

However, former Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas last week expressed his fears that Beckham will be tempted to bring an early end to his time in the USA.

Lalas said: "He's back in his comfort zone at AC Milan, playing with one of the biggest clubs in the world, with a tremendous amount of talent around him, with incredible money out there on the field so it must be, in a weird way for him, a relief to get out there."