The competitive international career of David Beckham has come to an untimely end, via a very blunt statement from England manager Fabio Capello.

Citing Beckham as "a little bit too old" for competitive international play, Capello triggered a firestorm of reaction to his rough handling of Beckham, who apparently hadn't been contacted by the manager to discuss his national team future.

The 35-year-old Beckham, who suffered an Achilles' tendon tear in March, returned to the training field for the Los Angeles Galaxy this week.

Asked whether he had telephoned the Beckham to tell him that he would no longer be selected, Capello said: "No. No. But I think I will speak with him. We tried to speak with him. I think David knows that he has no future with the national team because we have to change. Probably someone has rung him now before I called him. We tried to speak with him, but we haven't managed to."