Beckham is second richest in world

David Beckham has emerged as the second highest paid footballer in the world, trailing only Ronaldo in the game’s currently fabulous pay stakes. The Manchester United and England midfielder, having an outstanding season, will earn just over £3m over this campaign for his efforts – both on and off the field.

According to France Football magazine, Beckham is paid a salary of about £1.5m by United before bonuses, and the pocket of the player who will be 24 on Sunday is swollen further by £1.2m commercial earnings with endorsements of Brylcreem and Adidas among other products.

His salary is six times the average for a Premiership player last season. But even Beckham’s riches pale against Ronaldo’s.

The Internazionale and Brazil striker will earn about £5.7m this season. This includes a basic weekly wage of £50,000-plus and more than £3m a year in advertising activities.

Beckham edges the current world footballer of the year Zinedine Zidane into third place, the Juventus and France playmaker earning just under £3m. Fourth is Christian Vieri, the Italy striker, with £2.8m.

David Ginola, just crowned the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year, is the sixth best paid French footballer. The Tottenham winger earns £1.34m.

Ronaldo has hinted he may take his expensive talents elsewhere if fan discontent at Inter turns even worse. Inter lost 3-1 to Udinese on Sunday and the Brazilian’s car was hit by a bottle thrown by a fan as he drove away from the San Siro.

‘I can accept the whistles; they may have even been justified on that occasion since I and the whole team played horribly against Udinese,” he said. ‘But what really hurt was the attempted assault as I was leaving the stadium. In this climate of tension and fear, somebody could decide to leave Inter.”

Inter yesterday welcomed back Roy Hodgson as caretaker coach until the end of the season, when Marcello Lippi will take over. Hodgson, out of a club job since he was sacked by Blackburn in November, left the San Siro two years ago and now has the job of lifting ninth-placed Inter into a Uefa Cup berth.

Middlesbrough’s manager Bryan Robson yesterday played down a newspaper report that Paul Gascoigne had been seen drinking alcohol again.

Gascoigne entered the Priory Clinic in south London earlier this season to combat his apparent addiction. But a report that the midfielder had been seen drinking – though not drunk -prompted Robson to say: ‘With Gazza it is always the same, everything is blown out of proportion. I spoke to Gazza yesterday and he has not been drunk. He is still under counselling with the doctors and the people down at the Priory. They are all happy with the way he is going.’