Helsinki: David Beckham will spend one more day recuperating from Achilles surgery in Turku, the small Finnish seaport city turned international media circus, his surgeon told Reuters yesterday.
The 34 year old's visit to top specialist Dr Sakari Orava has enraptured Finland, with tabloid Ilta-Sanomat writing, "The centre of the world: Turku" in its edition yesterday.
"Superstar David Beckham's surgery turned eyes to Finland," the tabloid said of the England player's visit to the western part of the Nordic nation.
Finnish newspapers yesterday were jam-packed with photos of a sombre-looking Beckham arriving at the Turku clinic on the west coast, 165km from capital Helsinki.
Beckham, who suffered the injury in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo on Sunday, was the perfect patient, Orava said.
"I think he prefers to stay one more night here. I just visited him ... and he said if it's possible he would stay one more night so we can check the wound tomorrow," Orava told Reuters by telephone from Turku early yesterday.
Mood
"[His mood] was pretty good ... he was smiling and there was no pain. He was really happy.
"He's a nice patient, he's very satisified with everything, behaves well and doesn't complain," Orava laughed.
Orava, who has been operating on top athletes such as Haile Gebrselassie, Josep Guardiola and Merlene Ottey for the past 25 years, told Reuters on Monday Beckham would likely miss the World Cup in South Africa due to the injury.
With his foot to be kept in a cast for 6-8 weeks, Beckham is unlikely to regain full fitness ahead of the tournament, which begins on June 11.
Beckham, England's most capped outfield player with 115 appearances, had been bidding to play in a fourth World Cup. Such is Beckham's status in Britain that even Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had written to wish him a speedy recovery.
Beckham's visit has put the local media into overdrive in this small Nordic country, which is more known for its love of ice hockey and winter sports than soccer. Papers published stories on the nature of Beckham's injury, profiles of Orava and also rumours that Beckham's wife Victoria would arrive in Turku later on.
"The Drama named David Beckham" tabloid Iltalehti wrote.
"Becks is great looking and stylish. He has a beautiful and successful wife. They are a dream family," it quoted four young girls as saying outside the clinic.
Some were simply drawn by the spectacle.
"It's pretty interesting," 17-year-old Miro Vasama told Turun Sanomat. "Probably we would have come, even if [it] would have been some other star of this size."
