Real Madrid's David Beckham (right) dribbles the ball past Los Angeles Galaxy's Herculez Gomez (centre) and Tyrone Marshall during their friendly match in Carson, California in this July 18, 2005 file photo. The former England captain will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and sign a five-year deal for MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy. - Reuters

HARTFORD, (Reuters)

U.S. football officials have welcomed David Beck-ham's decision to sign for the Los Angeles Galaxy, but said the move did not signal a return to the extravagant era of the defunct North American Soccer League.

The 31-year-old former Eng-land captain told Reuters on Thursday he would leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and sign a five-year deal with Los Angeles Galaxy worth $1 million a week.

Major League Soccer deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis told Reuters the days of the free-spending NASL were now over.

"It's such a different time," Gazidis said.

"The game is now established in the U.S., which was not the case of the (NASL) league in the 1970s," he said. "We have a fan base and a degree of cultural relevance, but right now, we're looking to build conservatively over a period of time."

Beckham's arrival will evoke memories of the heyday of the NASL when Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Giorgio Chinaglia and Johan Neeskens played for the New York Cosmos.

The Cosmos were the most popular and richest team in the league which ran from 1968-84.

They were owned during the 1970s by the cash-laden Warner Communication and the club reached its zenith in 1978 when it regularly drew more than 50,000 a game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Cosmos benefited from Warner's deep pockets but mismanagement and financial problems eventually led to the league's demise.

"We're going to see changes in the next few months and years," said Gazidis. "But we're not going to go into a phase of uncontrolled spending like the NASL did."

MLS will probably never match the clout and player power once synonymous with the Cosmos, or European clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea.