By IANS
Los Angeles : Former England captain David Beckham admits an ankle injury is almost certain to prevent him from making his LA Galaxy debut against Chelsea Saturday.
The 32-year-old England midfielder was in Denver Thursday as guest of Major League Soccer (MLS) for the All-Star game against Celtic, reports BBC.
And he said: "I've been having a lot of treatment but at the moment it doesn't look good, I'm afraid.
"The swelling's still there. I'm here for five years, not just Saturday."
Galaxy general manager Alexei Lalas also insisted they would take no chances with an injury that had troubled Beckham in the closing weeks of his Real Madrid career.
Lalas told BBC: "He is improving day to day and we anticipate that he is going to play a part – how big or small we don't yet know.
"It is a big game Saturday, we know people want to see him play and I don't want to disappoint anybody. And ultimately David doesn't want to disappoint anybody."
There were also concerns that the five-hour round trip to Denver for what was effectively a promotional visit would aggravate Beckham's injury.
MLS commissioner Dan Garber stated that there was no need for Galaxy to risk playing Beckham before he had made a full recovery.
"There is no rush to play him Saturday," said Garber. "Beckham has signed a long-term contract and we just have to be sure he is healthy."
Beckham suffered the injury on England duty against Estonia in June and aggravated it in his final appearance for Real Madrid.
He was unable to take a full part in his first training session for his new club Monday, putting his participation in the friendly against Jose Mourinho's side in doubt.