United can swap Beckham for Veron or Vieira

Manchester United may have to off load David Beckham to land Juan Veron or Patrick Vieira.

United face a trial of strength as they try to sign Juan Veron as Inter and AC Milan ready bids for the player.

AC Milan are also now involved in interest over the Argentine especially as their major transfer target of the summer, Rui Costa, is in talks with Real Madrid.

Inter called Juan Veron within minutes of his acquittal for faking documents to earn an Italian passport yesterday.

The Milan club called the player on holiday in Miami and his agent Gustavo Mascardi who is with him and are ready to pay £26 million for the Argentine midfield star.

Veron and Mascardi are to open talks again with Manchester United next week and the English champions expect Veron to sign for them after Mascardi made contact with United last January.

Lazio definitely do not want to release Veron to an Italian rival and if they do sell the player then United have a long lead on any other bid and can look forward to signing Veron at the start of July.

Mascardi is in Italy again next week to hear what seems now to be a host of offers after United made early runing for Veron with talks last January.

Offering Beckham to SS Lazio in exchange for Veron would help to seal the deal with Inter and Milan struggling to match such an offer.

Manchester United must make David Beckham the top earner in world football with a new five year contract worth £100,000 a week to keep him.

The new contract will take Beckham to 2007 and is an extension of his current deal with the club that ends next summer.

Nearly eighteen months of talks with Beckham have failed to secure a new deal for the midfielder and England captain.

The current highest earner in world football is AS Roma captain Francesco Totti who is paid £6 million a year but Beckham's new contract must beat that amount.

The English champions broke the transfer record in Britain with their £19 million signing of striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy in April and want to keep Beckham at the club despite interest from Spain and Italy.

Beckham is rated at around £25 million in the current transfer market but he is arguably the biggest star in football with a showbusiness lifestyle which makes him a famous face wherever the game is played. He already earns more than £7 million a year from sponsorship deals and that figure could rise as well after a new deal is secured with United.

The new contract for Beckham has taken so long to compile because of the various investment, business and sponsorship interests involving the player.

If United did want to sell the player the various rights deals and marketing contracts involving United and Beckham's name and image would take a long time to unravel and would put off clubs hoping for a quick purchase.

Beckham's new deal contains several clauses relating to the marketing of his image and squad number -'7' - which is not related to former idol Eric Cantona in any of the new United merchandising catalogues for next season. The number is now associated with Beckham only as the midfielder prepares to commit his future to the club.

Beckham is highly prized for his creative ability and crosses that lead to goals. He had the most goals scored from his passes in team statistics for United last season but his one paced style may struggle to adapt to a move abroad.

That makes the Arsenal swap option a possibility as United want Vieira.

Arsenal say they will not sell Vieira to the English champions but the chance to land Beckham - a major transfer target for the London club in the autumn of 1999 - may tempt them.

So far the major black on any Beckham transfer has been team manager Sir Alex Ferguson's desire to keep the star midfielder who is famed for his ability to create goals with crosses.

Ferguson's contract with United ends in 2002 and he then proposes to quit the club after the failure of the board to come up with a long term role for their successful team boss.

At the same time David Beckham's current contract with United is to end.

Beckham and his agents are in talks to create a new contract to keep him at the club until 2005 but the player wants a massive wage hike which the club's board have so far been reluctant to give.

The interest from Lazio and Arsenal could come at a handy time for Beckham's advisers as they try to get a new deal for the player or could tempt United to swap him.