LONDON (Reuters) -- David Beckham has hired Watford's director of football as his new personal manager, the English first division club's website said on Friday.

Terry Byrne will leave his current post at Vicarage Road in December and join the Real Madrid and England midfielder in Spain.

"I am excited about the new project that has come about and I believe it is an offer that was impossible to refuse," Byrne told Watford's official website.

Byrne became a close friend of the England captain while he was working as a physiotherapist for the national team under Glenn Hoddle during the 1998 World Cup.