‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?’

CHRISTMAS will come early for the supporters of AC Milan this evening when the club’s new loan signing, a certain David Beckham, is officially unveiled before the game against Udinese in the San Siro.

Although he won’t make his debut until January at the earliest, we can expect all the pyrotechnics which accompany Beckham’s every public move tonight but, also perhaps, the prospect of a few, more sensitive tifosi bursting into tears when he’s produced out of the sack. “But we asked Santa for Messi,” the poor mites will wail.

One man who can barely contain himself is Milan striker Marco Borelli. Images of Becks stripped to his bare essentials currently adorn Armani billboards all over Italy and, like a little kid homing in on the package beneath the tree, it seems Borelli just can’t wait to, as it were, tear the wrapping off.