Callous gold-diggers are asking for signed George Best football shirts for ‘charity’ and then flogging them on the internet instead, the ailing legend’s agent has revealed.Ghouls are selling shirts and other memorabilia signed and donated by the former Manchester United and Northern Ireland star - currently in intensive care battling a series of life-threatening infections - on internet auction websites like ebay.

A football signed by Best can fetch up to £200.

But while the 59-year-old ailing icon is fighting for his life in west London’s private Cromwell Hospital, where he has been in intensive care for almost five weeks, calls for him to sign memorabilia have been piling up.

eBay said it was “an industry wide problem” which they would not deal with unless it had a direct impact on the site.

A spokesman for the website said: “It is not something we would comment on, as it is more of an industry-wide problem as opposed to being directly related to eBay.”

Posted: 11|6|05 at 10:41 am. Filed under: Auction News.