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Beckham refuses to give up on his England career

Mark Fleming
Tuesday 21 December 2010 01:00 GMT
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(AFP/Getty Images)

David Beckham intends to earn himself an England recall, despite the manager Fabio Capello having announced his international career was over four months ago.

Capello said in August that he considered Beckham, 35, to be "a little bit old" and said he was not part of his plans for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, after the midfielder missed the World Cup in South Africa with a torn Achilles tendon.

But Beckham, who is the most capped outfield player in English history with 115 appearances and is second on the all-time list behind Peter Shilton, still maintains a desire to play for England.

He has made a successful return from the injury for Los Angeles Galaxy and hopes to secure a loan move to a European club before the Major League Soccer season starts again in America in March.

Beckham said: "I won't be going back to AC Milan this time because it is not possible to go onto the roster for such a short length of time. But I will be going back somewhere as I want to keep myself fit and keep myself in with a chance of getting called up for England again. To do that, I have to be somewhere so fingers crossed I can sort something out."

An England recall for Beckham seems unlikely at the age of 35, but he believes he has two more years left in him. "My body feels great after my injury," he said. "I always said I needed to get that back into order and keep my fitness and we will see.

"I am still playing well and playing on and can still do it. I have not finished yet. I wake up every day and want to achieve something. I love the game and am not done with playing the game yet. I might be 35 years old but I still feel that I can play at the top level for another couple of years. Hopefully, I can do that."

Beckham has ruled out playing for any English side other than his former club Manchester United. He said: "I have always missed playing in the Premier League since I left it almost eight years ago. It is a great league and one of the most competitive in the world. Maybe one day I will come back here but I have always said that it will only be for Manchester United. I am not holding my breath on that one, but we will have to wait and see."

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