Beckham power battle

Beckham has not wavered in professing his commitment to the Spanish giants, despite continued speculation, while Perez would be loathe to part with the jewel in Real's marketing crown. Enquiries as to Beckham's availability by a third party believed to be acting on behalf of Chelsea have been met with a firm rebuttal by Perez.

But that position could change if Sobrino ousts the man who engineered Beckham's £25million move from Manchester United last year.

Since taking over Perez has delivered the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham, along with two league titles and two European Cups.

But Real's dreadful run, in which they have lost in the Spanish Cup Final, crashed out of the Champions League and lost top spot to Valencia, who drew 2-2 with Real Sociedad last night, has brought into question his scheme of matching the world's best players with raw youth team members.

Fans have made no secret of their displeasure over the performances and angry supporters unfurled a banner at the training ground last week which stated: 'For you whores and money, while for us indignation and repression.' As a result of the unrest, the team decamped to La Manga ahead of Saturday's 2-1 derby win over Atletico.

Santiago Solari opened the scoring for Real and Ivan Helguera netted the second after an assist from Beckham. Success for Sobrino could also mark the end of Luis Figo's career at Real - the man whom Perez promised he would sign from Barcelona.

Sobrino intends to use the same vote-winning policy by approaching Barcelona for Ronaldinho to form a dream strikeforce along with Ronaldo and Raul.