Those who have rushed to mock David Beckham for turning his back on a life of criticism, rejection and crucifixion for the land of teeth, breast implants and Mickey Mouse may be interested to know that he is not alone. Frank Yallop, the man charged with the task of assimilating a £70,000-a-day global icon into a team of jobbing college graduates, has revealed that he has had calls from top Barclays Premiership players wanting to join the circus. “Players who would make you go ‘wow’ if I named them,” he said.

Yallop is the former Ipswich Town player who coaches Los Angeles Galaxy and he gave an exclusive insight into the world awaiting Beckham. “I’ve never shouted at a player in my life, so there won’t be any hairdryer treatment,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s not as serious here, but football is not the be-all and end-all.”

Nevertheless, Yallop painted a picture of a happy future in which Beckham played central midfield, silenced the dissension and won his England place back. As he planned the open trials, in which anyone can compete for a place alongside Beckham on the roster, Yallop moved to dismiss talk of dissent in the camp.

“I know our guys and they’re not the jealous type,” he said. “We have players on $31,000 [about £16,000] a year, but we also have someone like Landon Donovan on big money. The salary cap is a way of life over here.”

That said, Peter Vagenas, a Galaxy midfield player, said at the weekend: “Of course there is resentment. I think if people said ‘no’, they would be lying.” Yallop said that the comments were “tongue in cheek” but conceded to being surprised by them.

The money is staggering, even by Hollywood standards, but Yallop launched a spirited defence of a signing who has attracted a mob of cynicism fronted by Ramón Calderón, the Real Madrid president, and including most of the European media. “I don’t know why Fabio Capello [the Real coach] came out and said David would never play for them again,” Yallop said. “Everyone knew Michael Ballack was going to Chelsea, but he saw out the season at Bayern Munich. Madrid have been in our situation.

“I think David is always the first to take the flak. I thought he had a pretty good World Cup. Steve McClaren [the England head coach] wanted to go in a different direction, but I will have no problem ringing him up to recommend David if he plays as well as we expect.”

Beckham has been castigated for going to a second-rate league, yet that is a result of a salary cap designed to create a more even competition. “He will drive the sport on here,” Yallop said. “Every kid under 10 in America plays soccer. I think, in three or four years, the salary cap will have been raised to a level where we can start retaining our best players.”

Before the “designated player rule”, each Major League Soccer club was bound by an annual $2 million combined salary. It is a system that encourages Vagenas’s attitude. “The sums mentioned are obscene, but everyone is lumping everything together — image rights, endorsements, the lot,” Yallop said.

“I think the British media are knocking him because he has been out of sight and out of mind in Spain. How many games have people really seen him play, because whenever I’ve seen him he’s been very good. He wasn’t happy at Madrid. Now he’s going to enjoy himself again. What’s so wrong with that?”

Labelled an “average cinema actor in Hollywood” by his club president and effectively made a scapegoat for Sven-Göran Eriksson’s ills by his country, the question resonates. Los Angeles has been seduced, with the club receiving 7,000 applicants for the open trials in a single day, and Yallop is planning to play Beckham in his favoured central midfield position.

“The one conversation I had with him was all about football,” Yallop said. “He was not interested in the weather, the lifestyle or the beaches. That was encouraging.”

A stress-free life, £70,000 a day and a beach house? If George Best’s bellboy was still around, he might be asking where it all went wrong.

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