Fans swarmed outside the Beijing Hotel hoping to glimpse the player

Items used by the team during a three-day stay at the luxurious Beijing Hotel were eagerly snapped up by ecstatic fans.

One fan paid 2,800 yuan ($341) for the Chinese pyjamas, bed sheets, towel and pillow cases used by the club's latest, and arguably most famous addition.

Another bidder paid $340 to stay in the room Beckham used, $100 more than the normal rate.

Other items sold at the auction included a football signed by Beckham and his teammates, sold for 21,000 yuan ($2,560).

The auction raised a total of 150,000 yuan ($18,300) for children of nurses and doctors who died battling Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).