Beckham Completes AC Milan Switch

By: NathanHJ | March 3rd, 2009

So.

After three years (including the 2009 season) David Beckham leaves the Galaxy and MLS for the greener pastures of AC Milan and Serie A. As numerous sources are reporting (but my favorite is the crusty reportage coming from LA Times futbol guru Grahame Jones – see today’s story here, which has lots of details, along with these stories from earlier in the transfer saga here and here ) Becks will complete the Serie A season with Milan on May 31, presumably get call-ups for two England internnational matches in June, return to train with the Galaxy and rejoin the club when the international transfer window opens on July 15. He will complete the MLS season, then end his contract with MLS and permanently join AC Milan.

During his loan, his salary will not count against the cap and his roster spot will be available for someone else to fill. Plus MLS and AEG get all the cash they were looking for and then some. From the perspective of the teams, the player, and the league, even the sponsors, it is win-win-win-win.

Which leaves us. The fans.

Personally, I’m just happy to get this thing over and done with. As a season ticket holder I don’t mind seeing Becks a few more times before he heads back to big-time Euro futbol. Honestly, his play wasn’t that amazing down the stretch last year, though he had little help from a mostly mediocre collection of role players. Becks shines when he is surrounded by talents players who read the game as well as he does and can handle his passes. He is not the player to carry a team on his shoulders, which is pretty much what the Galaxy needed last year. And the year before.

I’m happy, as an MLS fan, to get the cap space and roster spot for other players. I’m happy to be free of the drama. I’m happy to be free of the focal point for world media, since as an example of MLS futbol, the Galaxy was not who I would have chosen to make the poster child.

I’m less happy about how AEG used Becks to jack up ticket prices, attempt to position the Galaxy as a global brand, and blew up the team just as he was arriving on the scene. I’m less happy about the fact that he missed most of 2007, checked out about halfway through 2008 and has halved his 2009 commitment.

At this point, the issue is settled and the Galaxy have another roster spot and $400K to spend on players. I’m more interested in how we use these new resources than in anything involving Brand Beckham.

What about ya’ll? I know some of you guys are very very angry about how this played out and are not very happy about where this leaves us, the fans. So let’s hear from you in the comments.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

« UPDATE: Roster Compliance | Home | 2009 Salaries Are In »

Laurie

Jack, if you're not wedded to the legal or the official, try myp2p.eu. It's an aggregation of pirate links. Another one to try is Rojadirecta.org -- I use it when myp2p doesn't work.
JustJack

I'm having major TV withdrawal. How do I find matches on the Net? Sometimes I noticed ESPN360.com has stuff, sometimes mlsnet has them. But there's no way to plan for things or watch them on time.

I'm still chaffing over my Setanta Broadband account because since disconnecting my cable to save dollars I've wasted money on SB to see a total of exactly two Chelsea matches. It's a horrible ordeal for a fan to endure.
JustJack

Whewwee! I'm all over the place about this. And I keep coming back to feeling good for Becks the player (because I'm a dad and always wish the kids well) and pissed off as me the Galaxy fan (who really wants his club to succeed so we can get a real FA system over here and see futbol continent-wide, with regional rivalries, relegation-promotion and all that).

I'm very concerned about the impact our boys will sustain by having this big half-season blip again. LAG players have historically been emotional players, they need consistency, stability, and their fans... hell, we need them and feed them accordingly. Football is not a game where you can just plug-and-play players... you need your consistent positional groups (case in point my suffering Chelsea). It's going to disrupt things.

The other thing I'm more worried about is our guys who aren't the Beckhams or Landycakes (yeah I grew to love him for his goals, even his OCD but dammit, he kept Buddle down and that made me bonkers all too often). I want to see Edson work with the USMNats too. The other end I'm worried about is the back four, I want young Sean to be with some salty-enforcers who can groom him to perfection so he can take his rightful place in a few years as a solid international. But that cannot happen when management is making drag and drop deals for divas. Man, and I thought Broadway was the place for drama queens... humpf, no more.
jen

Frank, thank you! I saw your comments after I put up the salary post. I'll go add your links to the post.
Frank

One more link which explains the salary breakdown...

http://www.mlsplayers.org/sala...
Frank

OT & FYI - The MLS player salaries for 2009 are out....first by club and then the alphabetical list...

http://www.mlsplayers.org/file...

http://www.mlsplayers.org/file...
Nathanhj

George, I wouldn't worry yet. 4 starters were on the bench rehabbing injuries. Landon's in Germany. It was mostly rookies and younger players on the field.

Nice that Tristan scored and good for Omar. ,agee sounds like he did agood job. Those are my takeaways.
George

Our team just lost 2-5 to Colorado at the HDC. After losing 1-3 to Seattle, this looks like another bad loss against another MLS team, at home nonetheless. Plus, apparently Buddle is injured again (I don't know how severe it is). I know it is still preseason, but am I wrong to be quite worried about the state of this team?

Article link: http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.co...

P.S: Congrats to Tristan for getting his first Galxy goal, and Omar for his second.
Laurie

interesting article on this from Andrew Gumbel, including this quote from an anonymous "former manager." (Gosh. Wonder who that could be.)

MLS officials are tacitly contrite about the expectations they set up. “As a young league fighting for its profile, maybe we did get carried away,” one former team manager said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It took on a life of its own. Maybe it’s something we’ve all looked back on and learned from.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/ne...
Laurie

Nathan, Quavas didn't make Seattle but signed with a USL team. Minnesota, maybe? Too bad. Our league's ability to take care of the kids sucks. With luck he can use the time to mature and we'll be seeing him in MLS again.
Diane

Fair enough, Colin!

I'm still waiting to see what Milan says after they get their last friendly with Beckham out of the way. I may be a softy when it comes to players, but I am SO cynical when it comes to management...I guess I could just wait until 2010 to see how it all turned out -- I don't put it past these guys to try to milk the story until then!
Colin

The more I read about this deal, the more I get angered, as a Galaxy fan and as a "US soccer in any form" fan. I really hope that the LA players don't give Becks the time of day when he returns, and I hope that Bruce treats Becks the way Becks treated the team - with complete disregard and disrespect. While I don't hope for his legs to be broken, I really do hope that the bandwagon Galaxy fans get on board and boo him at our home games.
Nicole

This is the stupidest deal I've ever heard of.

And what player is going to agree to come play for the Galaxy for the first half of the year, knowing he'll be cut when Becks gets here? That's insane.

What I hope happens is that the team is playing really good soccer and Bruce doesn't want to mess up a good thing, so when Becks gets back he'll have to sit on the bench and gt mop-up minutes at the end of each game.

This deal makes me seriously reconsider whether I care about the LA Galaxy at all. I feel really, really bad for the players.
Diane

Leona, before I say anything about this ridiculous deal, I'm not bothered about your hating but it horrifies me that a "fan" of any sport can wish that a player "breaks both his legs...". No matter how much money they make, what poor decisions they (or those around them or their clubs) make, they're still human beings.

I'm ancient and have been a supporter of the same English side since well before MLS (and probably many commenters here) existed, a side known for its devoted fans, and I've never wished a player ill -- including Beckham when he played for our historic rivals in England.

I agree that this is a poor arrangment -- not surprisingly based on image revenue -- and that it would have actually have been better for everyone if it had been a straight sale. No matter how much money the Galaxy make on Beckham in the next 7 or 8 months, and it will be a lot, it won't compare to the value in the long run of building a strong and successful team.

I also agree with all of those disgusted by how the "negotiations" have been handled. Milan have been playing not only the Galaxy but Beckham as well. I actually thought they would drag this on until this week, when they have another lucrative friendly scheduled (today?), keeping the publicity coming and the player committed, and then drop the whole thing in time for Beckham to return to LA.

By the same token I don't think LA/MLS has been suffering quite as much under the weight of the publicity this has generated as they would have us think (again apart from Galaxy teammates and fans). Loved or hated, MLS is now receiving more attention than ever from football followers around the world. Even Laurie is going to buy a ticket to a Galaxy-featuring-Beckham match just to come boo ;-) (I know you would much prefer to watch them rebuild a team of long-term contenders, Laurie).
David

While I'd prefer a straight sale to this, I think I'm the lone voice here (or anywhere I know) who is not upset.

Becks and Landy (and Buddle to some extent) combined to be the most lethal offense in MLS last year.

For the past two years I have had people coming to at least a game a year and talking about soccer simply because Beckham was here. They didn't even know what was going on (they still seem to think he has been injured the whole time) but they are curious. That didn't happen before he came.

The Galaxy failed to build a team around him -- and maybe couldn't with the cap. Beckham didn't fail to perform. But what was he going to do? I remember his first game he kicked a ball from midfield, it struck a forward in the chest and landed at his feet. The guy stared at it trying to figure out how the ball got there. That's not Beckham's fault. Can you blame him for wanting to go to a more competitive team?
Alan

IMHO this is the only resolution that make even halfway sense. Dragging Beckham onto a plane in Milan on March 9 doesn't help MLS one bit. However, neither does LAG rolling over to Milan.

Beck's rump MLS season will be a bit surreal, though. Nonetheless, the last call for the Beckham circus will put butts in seats, like it did before.
Robert

I couldn't be happier I decided not to keep my season tickets this year. To give my hard
earned money to the idiots at AEG would just be rewarding them for screwing the fans one more time. I'll be happy to watch from home.
Rusty

The deal reeks of a business compromise between AEG, AC Milan and Beckham. There's nothing wrong with business compromises, except that it feels like AEG didn't think about what impact this type of deal would have on the fans.

They now run an organization with perhaps the most angry fanbase in North American sports. The organization has been unsettled since it fired Sigi Schmidt. And when the heck was that?!? Beckham was supposed to give the club a sense of glamor, and all we've received since his signing is all light, no heat, poor play, worse morale, and a primadonna calling the shots.

So now we have a deal concluded but with no immediate resolution. How are the fans supposed to be happy with this? And what on earth is Baby Beckham going to do when the home crowd boos their asses off the first game he shows up? Pout? That'll go over well.

As much as this looks like a good deal, I just wished that this was all over. At least I wouldn't have to think about it any more.
Johonna

What a putz.
of course, he was pretty useless last Milan game so the Galaxy may have the last laugh yet.

You wait, after all this, he probably wont be called up to national duty anyway.
Laurie

Good point about the armband, Pete. I was wondering that too. If ever anybody was unworthy of being captain, it's Beckham.

I'm going to have to fly down for an LA home game in the last half of this season just to boo.
Brewing Geographer

I, too, generally agree with you Nathan. I'd feel better about Becks returning for the second half of 2009 if it wasn't already established that he's returning to Milan afterwards. Because rather than a Galaxy player on loan to the Rossoneri, it feels more like Milan is loaning him to Los Angeles. And given his age, his inconsistent health, and now his focus on European football--both club and country--one wonders exactly how devoted he'll be to the Galaxy and MLS. I guess we can only hope that our boys can turn things around, make a serious run at the playoffs, and appeal to Beckham's pride and desire to depart L.A. on a happy note in the fall.

And I assume that Landon won't be offering up his captain's armband this time around.
Leona

Go ahead and call me a hater but I hope he breaks his legs and never plays for England again. I bet Leiweke feels stupid now - isn't he the one that arranged for Beckham to be named LA Sportsman of the Year last year?
This is horrible. MLS and the Galaxy are made to look like chumps and this aging prima donna gets his way...becase he can. I hope he loses all his US sponsorships - poor Michael Phelps behaved better than this greedy twit and he gets the shaft. Ugh. Can't we ban him from the US?
Laurie

I wish he was gone for good. Now he gets the chance to completely disrupt the season one more time.

How does one use $400k in salary for HALF a season?
Sam

Good points you've got. I personally never thought he would have the desired impact, and as a result have cringed at all the hype about him. I'm happy people will be getting a wake up call about the whole thing. Hopefully now the Galaxy can build a fucking team, not a gimmick.