THE relentless rumour mill continues to churn out more snippets about Sir Alex Ferguson's prized playing assets and the likelihood of them being at Old Trafford next season.

Even before being outplayed in the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, Ferguson had decided to strengthen his squad during the summer.

But before he does, he must sell at least one, if not two, star players. Like it or not, there is a price on every player's head.

Earlier this month, Manchester United's chief executive Peter Kenyon declared that any incoming transfers had to be balanced by outgoing sales. On the first page of the club's interim accounts issued three weeks ago, chairman Sir Roy Gardner re-emphasised the need for prudence: "The board's objective is to ensure that, within its financial constraints, it supports the manager in sustaining the team's long-term competitiveness."

The message is clear - Manchester United do not have a bottomless pit of transfer money.

Certainly Madrid would not quibble at the cost of securing Beckham's signature, even for £35m. When it comes to spending the really big bucks, nobody touches Real Madrid.

The club has spent over £120m in recent seasons securing players of the calibre of Zidane, Ronaldo and Figo and has recouped virtually every penny by exploiting the image rights of each star.

When Zinedine Zidane signed for Real for £47 million, Real Madrid agreed to buy 90% of the Frenchman's image rights at a cost of £5.4 million each year.

The sale of image rights has long been a part of big name transfers, but the Zidane deal created a commercial template which showed how the club can make substantial profits. When 'ZZ' arrived at the Bernabeu, the club ordered 500,000 shirts to be emblazoned with the Frenchman's name. They sold through Real's own retail outlets generating £16.9m.

If Real Madrid can secure a supremely marketable David Beckham's image rights in addition to a £35m transfer consideration, it would be an excellent piece of business.

The Beckham 'brand' alone has an estimated value of £200m; add Real Madrid's 72m fan base and it is conceivable that the club could pay Beckham around £10m a year for a cut of his image rights in addition to his wages.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see Beckham in a Real shirt before the start of next season and his image simultaneously emblazoned on official Madrid merchandise. Commercially, Beckham and Real Madrid were made for each other; football-wise, the combination of the two would be virtually unbeatable.