Spinelli states that his transfer fee wouldn’t be a problem, but his actual wage requirements might pose an issue.

It seems as though Landon’s days of being courted have arrived.

The Three’s Company theme song keeps running through my head. “Come on knock on our doooooor. We’ve been waiting for youuuuuuu . . .”

Arena’s comments from the press release:

“Chris is a player that I’ve tracked for a number of years. He is an experienced midfielder with good qualities on both sides of the ball who I feel he will be able to contribute immediately as we push for a playoff position.”

If he works well for us this could be a HUGE signing — he is only 25 and still has many years left in his legs. It looks as though Arena is building a new generation of Galaxy players after all.

Bruce Arena denies the rumor.

What do you think? Is he too old? Can we afford him? Do we even want him?

Additional article here — thanks Laurie.

EDIT:

Laurie has pointed out that I missed a little sumpin’ sumpin’. In my defense, I did see the photo, but decided to take on a more journalistic air. I was obviously very, very wrong.

So without further ado, does this remind you of anyone else we may know?

The Galaxy have signed Gregg Berhalter.

From the official Galaxy site.

ESPN’s article.

Nick Green from 100 Percent Soccer.

Luis Bueno’s take on it before it was official.

Steve Goff at the Washington Post drops this whisper of a rumor on us via his excellent Soccer Insider blog:

…..according to MLS sources, USA defender Gregg Berhalter is close to being released by 1860 Munich, which would clear the way for the New Jersey native to sign with the U.S. league. A few teams expressed initial interest in him weeks ago, but it’s unclear how many remain in the chase. Los Angeles is believed to be at the top of the allocation list.

Ooookaaayyyy. Maybe. Berhalter is a former National Team player who had a big role in the team’s great 2002 run, stepping in for an injured Jeff Agoos and helping solidify a backline that played above itself for most of that tournament. He’s played top flight and second flight futbol around Europe including in the Dutch and English leagues as well as 1 and 2 Bundesliga in Germany. He likes to play in the center.

He’s also 35 years old and will turn 36 during the course of the season.

So. Sitting at the top of the allocation list, do we claim Gregg (that extra “g” is going to slow him down as he gets older, you watch) if he becomes available or do we wait for the next option? If we grabbed him, who would sit? Gonzalez? Sanneh? If Gonzalez, do we want a central tandem that is old enough to remember when bell bottoms, striped jeans jackets, and those hideous hideous giant disco sunglasses were cool the first time ’round? If Sanneh, then is that really an upgrade? And could the Galaxy actually afford him?

Of course, it’s not really that much of a rumor, more a whisper of what could happen given two facts: Berhalter being released and the Galaxy having the top allocation choice.

What do you guys think? Is this something Arena should pursue? Or are we okay in the back until something better comes along? Give your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

For a round-up of this story from the LA metroplex you can read the Grahame Jones story I linked to above, or check in with Nick Green at his 100 Percent Soccer blog (complete with snarky commentary). For some reason (sanity?) Luis Bueno is concentrating on some other team that plays futbol at the HDC. Some team named after a nationalistic herb or something – Chives USA? But I digress.

Everyone is reporting what we already knew: Becks stays with Milan until June, comes back the G’s in July, and then splits for good to the Rossoneri in November (though AEG continues to say “if” not “when” on this point). But there are two interesting pieces for the fans here.

(1) July 17th 19th friendly between the Galaxy and AC Milan at the HDC.
(2) 10% across-the-board reduction in ticket prices with refunds to be given to people who have already purchased tickets.

In this entire saga, these two things are the most fan-respectful things that the Galaxy have done. Besides canning Alexi Lalas, that is. It’s almost as if AEG is trying to get beyond the recent years of fan abuse and try to reconcile with us.

To which I say, “It’s a good start, but its just a start.” I fully expect that the AC Milan game will be a bonus game for season ticket holders. I except that the Galaxy will use the cap and roster space this deal creates to shore up the weak points in the team (take your pick here, but I’m hoping for a solid holding midfielder or a Michael Parkhurst-type centerback).

And I expect that they will stop this ridiculous “Superclub” self-promotion and remember that we play in a young league with a salary cap that is the equivalent of the minimum salary of the lowliest benchwarmer on real Superclubs. Let’s just win some games in MLS, maybe make the CCL and beat some Mexican teams, and maybe win the domestic treble before we get all knicker-twised about the possibility of playing a dinar-dripping friendly in Dubai or whereever. I’m just sayin’.

So. That’s all done. Good.

Let’s play some futbol.

Well, kids, it looks like we are going from rumor to reality in the Becks-to-AC Milan sweepstakes. David Beckham has now said publicly that he wants to stay at AC Milan and has directed his lawyers to work out a deal between MLS and Milan. The good folks at MLS Rumors have the video.

The press coverage has been building (I did my part two days ago, though I’m sure no one would mistake these modest postings for “press”) on this story for a little while now and over the last two days many of the soccer journalists in the US have weighed in.

Here at ground zero, Grahame Jones did a surprisingly snark-free piece for the Los Angeles Times and Nick Green did a straight-forward news report for The Daily News, (which I found posted at his blog 100 Percent Soccer). The real gem from Nick, though, was his next post called The Failures of David Beckham. And, sad to say, I really couldn’t find a way to disagree with his thesis.

And now Beckham has failed in MLS, playing no small role in transforming what was the league’s flagship franchise into its worst. A player who was supposed to bring star power and credibility to MLS instead merely exposed the inherent weaknesses of a league with a relatively low salary cap and small squads.

In the end, Beckham proved he’s no Pele or even a Juan Pablo Angel.

Sadly, yes.

But at least I enjoyed him when he actually played well for us. And I’m not saying that SoCal’s resident thrower of brick-bats and channeler of Groucho Marx mixed with WC Fields and Will Rogers, Galaxy season ticket holder Dan Loney, thought he couldn’t make a fine pass now and again, but he sure isn’t sucking down cans of happy juice.

David Beckham was on “Sesame Street” this morning. My daughter saw him, and started crying.

What a bright, perceptive, intelligent little girl I have. Me and Tim Leiweke should listen to her more often. Turns out Ben Olsen was right to beat the crap out of Dawson for wearing that douchebag’s jersey.

Now, let’s get one thing straight. If you think I’m just going to go off on some poisonous, semi-literate rant calling into question Beckham’s desire, class, integrity and honor – boy, have you come to the right place. My only mission right now is to make Nick Green look like Simon Fuller.

For my part, I’m kinda glad this David Beckham thing is winding down, both on the field of the Home Depot Center and in the never-ending soap opera of his next move. Just leave already, though we’d better make Milan pay a pretty penny. Sell it while it’s hot, son, to phrase some paras.

Buuuuut, that’s just some people with some media platforms talking (though, just so you know, that does, in fact, make us better people than you). What do you guys think? Are you ready for this things to just be done? I know that Charles and Diane and Justin and Trent and George and Rusty and Eugene and David and Steve were all going on about this a couple of days ago. (And all while I was at work – what is it with you people, don’t you have jobs?) Oh I kid, I kid.

Actually you all had way more insights into this than I do and you make some pretty compelling arguments as to why this was just fine. And some about why this wasn’t so fine. So now I’m confused. And since I’m confused and you know more than I do, I’m just going to turn this locomotive back over to you. Becks to Milan. Good or bad for Becks, the Galaxy, AC Milan, MLS, and Posh and the kids?

Let’s see…Grahame Jones at the Los Angeles Times gives us “David Beckham plays well again, adding to ’stay or leave’ drama”. ESPN’s SoccerNet gives us “Beckham wants to stay says Milan chief”. The sometimes-right but always entertaining folks at MLS Rumors give us “OUTGOING: David Beckham To AC Milan From LA Galaxy?“, followed hard on the heels by Goal.com’s “Beckham Brings In The Lawyers To Help With Milan Stay – Reports“. And that, in turn, led to yet another MLS Rumors post, “OUTGOING: 19.2 Million Dollars For Beckham to Milan?”

In other words, the rumor-fest has now come home. As if the speculation wasn’t here already.

So. What do you think? Is he coming back or staying at AC Milan?

My own two cents is that both he and the team would be better off with him at Milan. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching him play in person. But the fact is that his talent was wasted on a team like the Galaxy, mismanaged to within an inch of its life, and he would have been hard-pressed to really shine on most MLS teams. His going would clear up cap space, which could be used to shore up what is looking like a workmanlike but uninspiring offense, now that we’ve invested in some actual defenders (and at this point I’m leaning towards thinking Landon will be staying in Germany).

But am I on the right track? What do you think? Tell me I’m an idiot in the comments or let me know I’m the most insightful bastard since H.L. Mencken.

What would you like to see?

Part of me just wants to throw up my hands and say “Take ‘im! And I’ll take back the Galaxy of three or four years ago.”

I would (will?) honestly miss Donovan more than Becks, but more than anything I’d just like to see a successful LA Galaxy.

Looks like they are looking to potentially replace Donovan with another high paid, high profile player. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I would like to see the salary cap wiggle room that losing Donovan leaves put to better use than another high paid player. How would we be any better with the basically the same personnel? How about spreading the cap around to get a few very good, but not world class, players whose games would be raised by playing with Beckham and Eddie Lewis. How about a super-mobile striking midfielder and a kick ass keeper?