GERMAN football legend Franz Beckenbauer has told England they do not need a national stadium.

Former Germany captain Beckenbauer, now the president of Bayern Munich, entered the great Wembley debate by insisting there were enough top quality Premier League grounds to avoid having to build a new national stadium.

However, speaking on the same Radio Five Live Sportsweek programme as Beckenbauer, Sir Rodney Walker, chairman of the Wembley stadium project, promised that a new stadium was definitely going ahead at Wembley, with work on the site hopefully commencing before the end of this year.

''England does not need to have a national stadium,'' said Beckenbauer.

''There is no national stadium in Germany because there are so many good stadiums in Munich, in Hamburg, in Berlin, that there is no need to have one national stadium.

''It is the same in England. You have so many great stadiums that there is no need to have another Wembley.

''There is no need for one when you can play your international matches in different stadiums, as England have been doing recently since the closure of Wembley.

''Wembley is the most important stadium in the whole world because England is the motherland of football. It would be great to have another Wembley, but if not you have so many great stadiums in England that it is not so important to have another Wembley.''

However, there was an assurance from Walker that a new Wembley stadium would be built.

He said: ''At the moment, the FA have committed £100m of capital and £30m of guaranteed support, so the FA still believe they would like to support a national stadium.

''I believe the Government would like to see one, and I believe the whole of sport would like us to have a national stadium.

''I believe work will start on the new stadium before the end of the year.

"It will be very late in the year and it may even go into next year.

''I also think it is a definite 'yes' that we shall have a new national stadium at Wembley.''

Meanwhile, Beckenbauer also told Manchester United they should persuade Sir Alex Ferguson to stay on as manager at Old Trafford for another ten years.

Next season will be Ferguson's final campaign in charge of United, and the search for his successor will begin later this year.

However, Beckenbauer believes United could solve the problem by offering Ferguson a new contract to stay on as manager.

''Alex is a great man and a great manager, so maybe the best thing for United is to persuade him to sign a ten-year contract,'' said Beckenbauer.

l Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson has revealed the club are in talks with Barcelona about bringing Emmanuel Petit back to London. But the £7m swoop is unlikely to go ahead until the Catalan giants have finished their season.