London, April 27 (DPA) David Beckham said Tuesday that he was unlikely to return to action before November, meaning he could miss the whole of the MLS season.

The LA Galaxy midfielder ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for AC Milan in March, ruling him out of England's World Cup campaign, although he may still be involved in a non-playing capacity.

But it now appears he could miss the MLS season, which ends November 21.

"This is an injury that is going to take time to heal," Beckham told the MLS website.

"I'm only six weeks in after the surgery. I started therapy 10 days ago and just doing that every day. I kind of want to push it but with this kind of injury you can't. You just have to wait for it to heal and then move on.

"At the moment it's just getting the motion back into the ankle, the tendon, because obviously it's still repairing. I can't stretch too much, I have to wear a boot every day. If I haven't got a boot on, which I didn't today for a few interviews, I have to use crutches - it's one or the other at the moment. It's a pain. It's not easy moving around, but I have to protect it."

The surgeon who operated on Beckham in March, Sakari Orava, said at the time that six months was the likely time the player would be out.

"It is always so in a normal athlete but in a top-level (athlete) it is difficult to say, sometimes sooner, sometimes later," he said.