Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon expressed hope that former England captain and out of favour Real midfielder David Beckham will stay at the club.

Beckham has been consigned largely to the bench, after the arrival of the new manager Fabio Capello.

Calderon has confirmed that the Galacticos are interested in French midfielder Franck Ribery.

However, he disclosed that the immediate priority of the Spanish giants was to sign a defender more on the lines of AS Roma's Romanian international Cristian Chivu.

"I've heard Pedja (Mijatovic, Real's sporting director) saying good things about this French player (Ribery)," Calderon said in an interview with the Marca sports daily.

When asked over the speculations on the 31-year-old Beckham’s future, Calderon said: "Becks told me he wanted to stay and that's what I want also."

Calderon said he had proposed Beckham a two-year extension to his contract that would see him stay in Madrid until 2009.

However, it may be the matter of image rights that could be the bone of contention as regards to taking the decision of pledging the future to the Madrid club. Real wants to keep 50 percent of Beckham's image rights while the player wants to secure the full 100 percent, according to the AS sports daily.

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