If David Beckham moves to Los Angeles, it will be the city’s millions of Hispanic residents who give him a hero’s welcome.

The Hispanics love football almost as much as the British. Every lunchtime, construction sites across the city turn into makeshift pitches for the Mexicans, who mark the goalposts with their work shirts.

Meanwhile, English-speaking fans often choose to watch games on Los Angeles’s Spanish language cable channels because the ABC/ESPN coverage has about as much passion as an actuarial table.

That is not to say that Beckham does not have any name recognition with Americans in LA. Many know him vaguely as a European sex symbol and the husband of a Spice Girl.

On the whole, though, Americans could not care less about football, or soccer. Do not be fooled by the “major” in Major League Soccer. The game is seen as a sport for pre-teens.

Nevertheless, if Beckham can handle the downgrading of his celebrity status, he will probably love LA.

On Sunset Strip, he can be as outrageous as he likes — what with his man-skirts and facial piercings and hipster hairdos — and no one will bat a fake eyelash. Perhaps he will join Robbie Williams in exile in the Hollywood Hills.

Only one problem remains: if Beckham wants to watch any British football, he is going to have to go to the King’s Head, an expatriate pub by the beach in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, this is also where most of the British paparazzi go drinking.

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