By Matt Williams BBC Radio Five Live Sports News Reporter in Madrid

Real's troubles deepen

Transfer gossip leads to a certain degree of paranoia at all football clubs and nowhere is that more pronounced than at Real Madrid.

When David Beckham arrived in Madrid last summer the attitude towards the British media was one of tolerance.

Then reporters had plenty of access to players after training - you only had to stop them for a chat as they sauntered past fans to their Ferraris.

The type of access unthinkable at most Premiership grounds.

But those days are long gone as Real's season has imploded - defeated by Real Zaragoza in the Spanish Cup, dumped out of the European Cup by Monaco and trailing Valencia in the Primera Liga.

The club's training ground has moved from the easily accessible Ciudad Deportiva in the city centre to Las Rozas, a good 15-minute drive from the Spanish capital.

Now security is much tighter and the British journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to get in.

Whereas once they would mingle with Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo, now those reporters are kept at arm's length - some have even banned from trying to interview the players after matches.

On my most recent visit I only managed to get into the so-called "mixed zone" because a friendly face recognised me from my trip last summer.

The "galacticos" have been brought back to earth

Beckham himself could always be counted on to stop for a few words - now he hurries past.

He is courteous - a smile and a handshake - but his eyes are already on his way out and it's a brave reporter who tries to get past the three security men who escort him to his car.

There is no doubt the Rebecca Loos affair had a major influence on cooling Real's relationship with the British media.

But the rot had set in long before that and stories linking Beckham with Chelsea, Arsenal or even Manchester United only served to strain relations further.

The Spanish sport's media are only interested in what happens on the field and as there are four papers concentrating solely on sport with 40 pages to fill daily, they cannot afford to fall out of favour with the top clubs.

The British media worries less about treading on a few toes and as its papers are the most widely read around the world - a negative story makes the club's job that little bit more difficult.

The uncomfortable truth for Real is this. For as long as stories about Beckham sell papers, the media will be interested. And it is far easier to control those stories with those reporters inside the camp, than outside.