David Beckham holds a copy of the paperback version of his autobiography My Side in Manchester on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Madrid: The Annual General Meeting of Real Madrid football club on Sunday revealed the true value of midfield star David Beckham to the club.

Madrid?s income since 2002 has increased notably, from $187 million to an expected $368 million for the 2004-05 season. Of that, almost half (45.6 per cent) ? $168m ? is due to come directly from marketing. Only $112m will come from club membership and ticket sales.

?The signing of Beckham revolutionised income through marketing,? said newspaper El Pais on Monday.

If you combine the two fastest growing sectors in the club?s financial activities ? television coverage and marketing ? a jump from $109m in 2002 to a new height will be driven by deals struck with companies such as Adidas and Pepsi and through the distribution of images and products made under license.

In all of these, Beckham is prominent, and his interest to television companies across the world should not be underestimated. El Pais added it was no wonder that the saying, ?I?ll sell the Bernabeu Stadium before I sell Beckham,? is being attributed to the club president Florentino Perez. These figures might also help explain why Perez signed so many English players, a step that had puzzled many Madrid fans.

The British media?s high-octane voracity for all matters related to Beckham and the English players has served to maintain momentum in marketing sales. Anything that can help keep up the marketing frenzy must be worthwhile, given these sums.

One curious fact which El Pais pointed out was that, ?the signing of David Beckham in June 2003 coincided with the sporting decline of the team, while at the same time it saw a quantitative leap in the finances of the club.? The signing revalued the club?s net worth by 46 per cent.

For next year, this figure is due to rise to almost 60 per cent.

(AP)