As ever with David Beckham, it is not just about the football. The immediate reaction of the Italian media to the news that he will join AC Milan was less a discussion of how he will slot into the midfield and more excitement at the arrival of a celebrity with a wife who is unlikely to be disappointed by the city's shopping options.

“A new star will enrich the dressing-room,” Corriere dello Sport proclaimed on its website. Next to the story, it published a gallery of Victoria Beckham that, it said, offered “the best photos of David Beckham's sexy wife”.

“Dreaming of Beckham,” wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport. “This is the Italian title for the famous film, Bend it Like Beckham, made when David Beckham was almost an obsession. Milan very much wanted him back then and now the dream has become reality, even if a few years late.”

The verdict? “Milan's decision, a mixture of football and marketing, should help the great dead-ball man.” La Repubblica concurred: “The marriage with Milan is the ideal solution for the player,” it said, adding: “In one fell swoop, they have a player with a magic foot and a star of the jet set.” Gazzetta's website carried a story detailing the feverish reaction of the British media to the story, underlining the interest in Beckham's status as a footballing phenomenon.

But one fan wrote on a website that, with yet another thirtysomething signing, “Milan is becoming a graveyard for elephants”. And he was not the lone sceptic. By yesterday evening, a poll on Gazzetta's website had attracted more than 21,000 respondents, with only 27.4 per cent voting for, “Great move: the English champion can still make a difference” and the rest deciding, “It's only a marketing stunt: at 33, he's already sailing into the sunset”. Antonio Di Natale, the Udinese and Italy striker, was more supportive. “He will have no problem playing in our league,” he said.