MADRID - David Beckham is sporting a new platinum blonde hairstyle as he prepares to bring down the curtain on his Real Madrid career before joining American club Los Angeles Galaxy in the summer.

Front page of Spanish daily sports newspaper AS shows Real Madrid's David Beckham with a new haircut, 27 April 2007. Beckham is sporting a new platinum blonde hairstyle as he prepares to bring down the curtain on his Real Madrid career before joining American club Los Angeles Galaxy in the summer.[AFP]

Beckham, who was uncharactistically coy about showing off the look on arrival at Real's training ground as he hurried inside, has gone through a range of tonsorial metamorphoses in his four years in Spain.

Most notable was the "samurai" look with which he wowed Asian fans on first joining the club during an Asian pre-season tour.

Now a fashion icon as much as a footballer in this the twilight of his career, the 31-year-old has changed his hairstyle ten times in his four years at Real according to a count by sports newspapers AS and Marca.

Both papers gave front page coverage to the news that the former England man has again spent time at the hairdressers.

Beckham, who turns 32 on Wednesday, is set to play in Sunday's encounter at Athletic Bilbao as Real chase hard in the final furlong for the league title.

They trail leaders Barcelona by just two points with seven games to go and Beckham therefore has a real chance of finally winning something with the Spanish giants.

Beckham's new look is similar to the one sported by Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, who Beckham helped to bamboozle last weekend with the freekick from which Real defender Sergio Ramos headed home the clincher in a 2-1 victory.