KEVIN KEEGAN has stepped up his search to bring some much-needed new blood to St James’s Park. The United boss locked himself away at the club’s training ground yesterday afternoon with his trusty lieutenants Terry McDermott and Arthur Cox with a “do not disturb” notice on the door. But reports suggesting that United were lining up an audacious bid for David Beckham were today dismissed by chairman Chris Mort. United fans will not be surprised to hear that Keegan is not letting the grass grow under his feet, but of course he faces a race against time with the transfer window shutting again in nine days’ time. Even though he gave the first-team squad the day off yesterday, Keegan lifted the club’s younger players by supervising a session with them. Then it was down to trying to work out just what players he can bring in. In his first spell as boss of United, Keegan always liked to see any signings himself out on the field and he was not a great believer in watching videos, but with the clock ticking he will have to cut his cloth accordingly. And he will know better than anyone that as soon as he makes any kind of approach for a player then the price will shoot up. I am told Keegan will go for big names, and he has certainly been linked with plenty in the last couple of days, including David Beckham. The England ace has been training with Arsenal, with his current side LA Galaxy in their close season. However, Galaxy resume their Major League Soccer fixtures on March 29, and Beckham will be expected to report for pre-season training five weeks before that date. In fact, Beckham was the 33rd player reported to be on his way to St James’s Park since Keegan returned, along with the likes of Micah Richards, Michael Carrick and Reading’s England left-back Nicky Shorey. And other names to be linked with United over the last few days include: Sol Campbell, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Pascal Chimbonda, Wes Brown, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Bridge, Bayern Munich defender Daniel van Buyten and Espanyol’s Daniel Jarque Gonzalez. Meanwhile, Keegan had his first-team squad back in today, but he knows that he also has to make decisions on the massive backroom staff he inherited from Sam Allardyce, probably in the next couple of days. | 
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