“I’m 32, but I feel as fit as I did when I was 22 and I’m as eager as I was when I was 14,” Beckham said after being introduced as a Galaxy player Friday. “I’m not here to wind down my career. I’ve won everything there is to win in England. I won the Spanish league title and I played for my country for 11 years — six of them as captain.”

There’s no doubt that Beckham’s ability will make him the biggest name in Major League Soccer.

But American soccer fans will quickly learn that Beckham is far from the complete player.

Even though he plays on the right side of midfield, Beckham is not the sort of player who runs at defenders and dribbles past them. He doesn’t have the speed or dribbling ability to do that.

He scored 62 goals in 265 appearances for Manchester United — most of them long-range shots, free kicks and penalties — but manager Alex Ferguson was frustrated that Beckham rarely got into positions inside the area where he could score.

Beckham also has a temper.

He has been sent off twice as an England player, famously at the 1998 World Cup in France when he petulantly kicked out at Argentina’s Diego Simeone while lying on the turf. England went on to play more than 70 minutes with only 10 men on the field, losing on penalties. Throughout the domestic season that followed, Beckham was jeered by rival fans wherever he played.

Whenever Beckham is fouled and he feels aggrieved, he has a tendency to overreact. Sent off four times in four years as a Real Madrid player, he often let his temper take over and would charge after the opponent who fouled him and wind up in trouble with the referee.

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Tackling is not one of his strong points, either. Even though Beckham will often track back to support his defenders, he often mistimes his tackles to give away free kicks and often pick up a yellow card.

Beckham’s first game for the Galaxy will be in a friendly against English club Chelsea on July 21.

While fans will be waiting for the first bending free kick, they shouldn’t expect too many dribbles or headers. And maybe they should brace themselves for the odd red card, too.