Dec 20, 2010 22:01 GMT  ·  By

Football star David Beckham is a die-hard fan of body art, boasting so many tattoos that he probably lost count of them himself. Over the weekend, before flying back to the UK, he got a new one, in celebration of his BBC Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Daily Star reports that, while he wouldn’t say what the new piece was all about, David did tease his followers on Twitter, posting a photo of him at the tattoo parlor and saying it took no less than 6 hours to have it done.

One may as well assume that, since it took so long to make, the piece must be pretty big. Either way, the photo he tweeted seems to hint he got it on his chest, close to his heart, as the aforementioned publication also says.

“Fun-loving Becks, who has around 20 tattoos, refused to reveal any details yet. Instead he teased fans by posting a picture of himself bare-chested in the tattoo parlor with Los Angeles-based artist Mark Mahoney,” the Daily Star writes.

Becks got the ink only hours before boarding a plane to fly back to the UK for the BBC gala and, of course, the holidays.

“[Mahoney] owns the famous Shamrock Social Club in Hollywood, where he has inked a host of stars including Angelina Jolie, 35, and Johnny Depp, 47,” the Star notes.

On his Twitter, David teased fans with news of the new piece. He doesn’t mention when (or if) he’ll ever show it off properly.

“I want to let you all in on something. Just had a new tattoo done by the legendary Mark Mahoney. Took six hours!” Becks tweeted.

As we also noted earlier today, David was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Awards by the BBC, in what was a very emotional moment for everyone in attendance, but particularly David and wife Victoria, who was seen crying her eyes out during Becks’ acceptance speech.