Beckham to play in Neville's testimonial

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

David Beckham will be given permission to skip Los Angeles Galaxy's home league game against Houston Dynamo on Wednesday in order to play in his friend Gary Neville's testimonial against Juventus the day before.

Beckham, 36, has asked for permission to play in the game that will feature United's famous academy players from the "Class of 1992", including Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt as well as Gary's brother Phil, who came through later. Galaxy have accommodated Beckham's desire to play international football when he was still involved with England and have accepted that this is one occasion that their marquee name does not want to miss.

After the game for Neville, Beckham will then fly straight to Boston to meet up with the Galaxy squad ahead of their game against New England Revolution a week on Saturday. It is hoped the presence of Beckham at Neville's game will boost sales to around 40,000 of United's 76,200 capacity. Neville announced plans yesterday to erect a supporters' club building next to Old Trafford with funds raised by his testimonial, a long-held promise to fans. The building will accommodate 1,500 fans and will also incorporate a hotel.

It will be built on a compact site next to the Bridgwater canal situated just at the end of Sir Matt Busby Way. Neville has not disclosed how much the building will cost to construct, or how the project is to be funded, but architectural projections were released yesterday. It is due to open in the summer of 2013.

Sir Alex Ferguson said at United's end-of-season awards ceremony at Old Trafford last night there would be "two, possibly three" signings this summer – a close season which chief executive David Gill also said he expected to be busier than in previous years. The fans' player of the season was Javier Hernandez and winner of the players' of the year award was Nani.