LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena insists David Beckham is up for the challenge when he returns from an extended loan at AC Milan in July. Speaking in a teleconference, Arena said: "He is pretty pleased about coming back."

Arena stated he had traded emails with the former England captain in the morning and added. "He is happy to be coming back. He wants to be in LA. He wants to take on this challenge. Despite public statements that have been made over the past couple of months, I think we're getting back a player who will want to be here and is motivated to do well. I want to make that clear."

With the long drawn out saga regarding David Beckham's return to Los Angeles seemingly resolved this weekend with an extended loan deal. In addition to the agreement of AC Milan travelling to Los Angeles for an exhibition game in July and financial compensation for the club, Arena can now get down to the business of what happens on the pitch.

"Now we can plan accordingly," Arena said. "We can move forward with our team and still look to improve our roster and get our team better. I think being able to finalize all of these issues is critical for our team. So, at the end of the day, we have the return of Landon Donovan and ultimately the return of David Beckham. Some people thought that that wasn't going to happen at all. I think it's a real positive."