David Beckham Edges Closer To Galaxy Exit
By: NathanHJ | February 5th, 2009(Quick edit to add that the Galaxy rejected a $10 million offer today, 2/7/09)
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?
 |
MLS Forums | LA Galaxy Results |  |
 |
Category: 
Tags: 2009 Preseason, AC Milan, BeckhamWatch, Dan Loney, David Beckham, Grahame Jones, Los Angeles Galaxy, MLS News, MLS Rumors, Nick Green, Player News, Team News, Transfer Rumors, transfersSubscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
David,
I agree with you, I don’t think Beckham was a bust at all. I mentioned on another blog that his presence and that of Schelotto forced the d-mids to improve in this league or get punished severely for hacking down a player 20-30yds from goal. I wasn’t nearly as familiar with this nuance of the game until these two, especially Beckham came.
For the Beckham investment, sure there were problems on the field last year, but Arena was well on his way to improving those issues this year. I think AEG was ready, willing and determined to throw more money and clout at the Beckham experiment to see it succeed. That was before Beckham turned on them. Tim Leiweke was one of the most influential owner representatives in the league — now what happens to that influence? What happens to his willingness to try another bold experiment like the Beckham rule?
Unfortunately, I also don’t think this is good news for Landon or the US National Team, which would have benefited with Landon being at Bayern Munich. If Beckham leaves, I’m inclined to believe that AEG and MLS won’t let Landon go, or risk having the Galaxy come apart even more (at least for the first half of the season).
@John:
Option 1: Sell him outright: $20 million.
$20 million is likely not enough to compensate for his loss financially. I’m guessing north of $30 million, and you can’t put a price on damaged credibility.
Option 2: Trade him for 1 or 2 current Milan players. (Perhaps one attacker and one defender – Borriello: 27, Ronaldinho: 28; Bonera: 27, Jankulovski: 31)
Are any of those players interested in coming here? Can’t force them to come and I’d guess their interest level is going down given that Beckham is going the other way.
Option 3: Sell him for 5 million, get Milan involved in a future player transfer (of our selection) to the Galaxy.
What? Why would they do that? Give MLS an option to cherry-pick one of their players in the future? Milan is big time, it’s not some small, provincial organization. Heck Silvio Berlusconi, the owner, is a billionaire and the current Prime Minister of Italy!
Option 4: Would Milan be willing to give up the rights to some of their youth players?
No.
Posted from
United States
-
well done becks milan is a great team, meanwhile l.a. galaxy sucks thats a bad team and a bad league.
Posted from
Singapore -
If Klinsman can’t sort out where to place Landy, then he may com back, and it might be Donovan’s choice. He’s not a winger, yet that’s where he was subbed. Donovan couldn’t have been to happy about how he looked last week, but it was not his fault at all. As long as Klose and Roberto are there, its gonna be tough for playing time, but Donovan more than proved himself in the friendlies. His value to other teams will decrease if he doesn’t play, and he really deserves to be starting. I can’t predict this one, but I’d put it now at 50/50, even though 2 weeks ago I figured it was 100% done.
I read a lot of commentary that the current press exposure is good for the MLS and Galaxy. We do seem like big players (we know better than that though). Grahame’s article in the Times made a good point, we should be asking for Shevchenko.
As far as the onfield performance, I really thought the team always played better with Klein on the right mid. They were organized and didn’t predictably resort to crosses into the box all the time, A lot of creativity went on in the midfield back then. Even Martino looked could occasionally with that midfield. As long as Klein returns to where he plays best, I won’t be so worried about the onfield issues, in fact, I’m sure this simple change will improve things a lot. Klein and Lewis on either side? Sounds like a great season to me!!
Oh..and Nathan..I’m a classical musician…so…ha…yeah…I don’t really have a job!!
Posted from
Singapore -
Thank you, joseph, for your keen insights and proper grammer. Just a quick question for you. If the Galaxy is a bad team – and a bad league – why did Beckham sign with them in the first place? Well done, indeed.
I think G. Jones highlighted how poorly skilled Galaxy and MLS management are compared to the big boys in Europe. It hurts to see our game’s “leaders” being played for the boys that they are.
We just need to move on as quickly as possible and get as much money as we can from the transfer. We have a lot to learn. IF Galaxy’s management and coaching staff learn the right lessons from this, it should be make the team stronger in the long run. But what do I know. I’m also a Kings fan.
I still want the US and England to play in South Africa.
Posted from
United States -
Ah, Joseph, what would this blog be without your fascinating insights and your unique approach to grammar? I am personally honored that you chose to stop by and grace us with your presence. Keep doing what you are doing. Someday everyone will recognize the full force of your genius.
Posted from
United States -
I promised I wouldn’t comment on Becks again, but as the teacher listed my name on the blackboard(!!), I’ll reply here and not argue with differing opinions. I’ll start with an additional good/bad for whom before answering yours Nathan:
For me, a football fan that lives in the States and hadn’t watched MLS before: no change; I’ve done very well with the Beckham effect; I discovered our local club (not Becks’); we bought season tix last year and my family is very happy to be going to live matches again; we still prefer European matches on TV and nothing will ever replace our English club, but its nice to feel part of a local footy culture again, early in its development as it might be. None of that changes.
Your list:
Galaxy: beyond good, team needs balance, consistency and non-distorted expectations in order to grow, not dodgy promotional ploys or “high visibility” — and that was before Beckham’s arrival to my eyes, now they really need all that as well as his salary cap space to spend on a balanced team.
Milan: not bad during season of injuries and recent low morale; great, if just in training, for younger players.
MLS: A wash. I’m not bothered on one level as the situation was handled abominably by them from the beginning — first in the interest of fans, then for the Galaxy players (including Beckham) and coaches, then in terms of publicity. On the other hand, in terms of hoping the league grows I’ve worked in marketing for a very long time and (obviously) don’t have same sky is falling view as others. Visibility is already raised here and abroad, league has made a few buckets full of cash, best to get past mistakes and move on. In the end the league’s image will grow only with the quality of its product on the fiels.
In the eyes of anyone who has followed sports, football and otherwise, this won’t be the first time they’ve seen a league handle something poorly for profit or out of sheer ineptitude, or a player (or any other kind of person for that matter) fail to deliver on a promise — for understandable or inexcusable reasons depending on your point of view in this case — or to discover something doesn’t work and/or change their mind when they do, or to have their circumstances change and ask out of a contract.
For Beckham: good outweighs bad. Psyched about possible NT action but also, I think, to find out that he can still play as he is, then too there’s the “Milan Lab’s” potential fountain of fitness. I’ll repeat one thing I’ve said before — it can’t be underestimated what it would mean to Bekcham personally to even have a chance of playing a role for England in next World Cup. Recall that in his first WC he was singly blamed for England’s failure — complete threats to life and family — and in the last two he was captain when they failed to reach the finals. The possibility of helping to make that right is most likely what trumped making things right with Galaxy fans. That would be the down side, although I know many here will take exception to this observation, Beckham doesn’t like to let fans down and has done a great deal during his career to prove that before now. (Thank gawd I am safely out of the way of thrown objects).
For Posh and kids: my husband is worried about the kids changing schools so much
.p.s. Am I the only person who thinks this still might not happen?
p.p.s. Nathan, I have an odd hours job, many teenagers to wait up for, and I type very fast (often faster than I think).
Posted from
Singapore -
Rats! Without mentioning names — as promised — I should have made no mention in previous post that anyone’s life and family were threatened when singly blamed for club or league’s failure. DO NOT GET ANY IDEAS.
Posted from
Singapore -
My biggest disappointment in the whole Beckham fiasco is that I was counting on him being here one more year to ease the transition for Landon. Landon really deserves a shot in Germany, and losing both at once is going to be excruciating. Not to mention that AEG and MLS just may not agree to both, and Landon has less pull.
I’m really, really hoping that Klinsmann finds a spot for him. It’s not a given, especially now that the Galaxy will probably play hardball for him.
Posted from
United States -
P.S. That Dan Loney piece is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. Aside from everything on this blog, of course. Or at least everything that’s not intended to be serious.
Posted from
United States -
I’m done talking about Beckham; I’m ready to start talking about our team. Besides DB and LD, only 4 of our starters from last year will probably be starting this year (which is as it should be, because the rest of the starters were not MLS starting X1 quality). Those players are Sean Franklin, Chris Klein, Eddie Lewis, and Edson Buddle. I’m excited about some of our knew players like Kovalenko, Magee, Ricketts, Dunivant, and whichever defenders that our on trial we end up keeping. We could have a pretty decent team, although the players will need to do a lot of gelling, since it’s basically a new team. However, If Beckham and Donovan do both leave, we will be lacking a creative player. I think the only positive thing that will come from those to leaving, besides the extra cap space, will be seeing Chris Klein wearing the captain’s armband…
Also, since Klose is injured there is a good chance we will be seeing Donovan start on Sunday (on GolTV).
Posted from
United States -
Wow, for some reason when I type I always spell homophones incorrectly. Sorry, I should check my writing BEFORE posting next time.
Posted from
United States -
“At the moment, Milan is more important than money. I want to think about football before everything else. I said in a clear manner what I think, I want to stay at Milan because I’ve rediscovered myself as a football player,”
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29051650/
Okay, let’s just sit back now and watch how it gets handled by the lawyers . . .
Posted from
Singapore -
Laurie, I agree about Donovan (thank GAWD…I was starting to think about sending you Zidane’s new book and DVD if we didn’t agree about something soon) that’s been on my mind as well.
Plus I’m still not sure Milan isn’t blowing smoke — I don’t know where, but they are awful chatty.
George, what’s a homophone?
Posted from
Singapore -
I would just like to point out that this blog is an affirming blog and we affirm and celebrate homophones.
Posted from
Singapore -
Homphones are words that sound like other words, but are spelled differently. If you look at my first post you’ll see that I wrote knew instead of new, our instead of are, and to instead of two. Yeah, homophones, I think I learned about them in 3rd grade.
Posted from
United States -
What a relief. I thought I was being politically incorrect for a second…and on a blog like this!? close call.
Posted from
Singapore -
Actually, Re: the subtitle
I heard it was a 6 million dollar offerPosted from
Singapore -
Aha, perhaps you are correct. But I read 6 million Euros, which would roughly be $10 million dollars, right?
Regardless, the Galaxy laughed at them. I’m sure Milan is low-balling them so they can negotiate upwards, but not too far up.
Posted from
Singapore -
Hopefully this won’t drag out too much longer with MLS/Galaxy and Milan coming to an agreement. We need our Galaxy focused on pre-season and not on the Beckham Circus that we have all come to know :p
Posted from
United States -
The link is to an article that reports that the LA Times said it was a $10 million offer. If you go to the LA Times site though, the article actually says that the Galaxy WANT $10M. I think the original offer was more like $5M. Here’s the Times story:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/galaxy/la-spw-beckham-italy8-2009feb08,0,3412659.story
Posted from
Singapore -
I had the same concern about this deal closing out Donovan’s opportunity, but frankly I’m not sure there is one. Klose started this weekend. Donovan was a late sub for Toni. I think there is room for Donovan as a sub on that squad, but they haven’t really made any rumblings about wanting to keep him. Maybe they are just being quiet while the Beckham deal goes forward, but I think Landon will be coming back. We’ll see.
Posted from
Singapore -
[...] even stop caring. So, finally, Beckham decides to cut the cord, and all that remains is for the issue of alimony to be [...]
Posted from
Singapore -
I bummed he’ll be gone but at the same time, being a die-hard LAG fan, it kinda no longer matters to me. I’m worried about this Dunivant character…. didn’t he play, I mean stagger about for us at some point in the old days?
Guess I’d better do some research.
Thanks for all the comments above, it helped round out a really good search session on the Becks-exit thing.
I can’t wait for opening day… in that lump in the throat, butterflies of oh-shirt-I-hope-we-don’t-f-ing-lose-too-much-this-time… and of course I’ll be screamin’ my malted-bev lined throat raw for my boyz, Sean and Edson BUDd-llllllle. I’ll have to wait for the half for my season-opener hoda too… I’d hate to hurl from anxiety too early.
Posted from
Singapore -
Dunivant was here before. I think he has had a couple of CAPs for the USMNT too. He is a good player. Not exciting, in the sense that he isn’t going to Europe or anything. But he is a solid player in the back. Frankly, though he might not have been my first choice, he is probably just the type of player we need. Arena seems to be assembling a group of quality MLS players that will form a solid core for a new team. It’s promising.
Posted from
Singapore -
beckham isn’t zidane. while a tremendously gifted player, he simply does not have the heroic presence and skill that zidane does. he can’t come into a mediocre squad and pick them up on his shoulders and carry them to a victory like zidane did so many times. its unfortunate that beckham takes all the blame when it is really MLS who expected beckham to be something he wasn’t.
Posted from
Singapore
Read the rest of the comments
Comments are closed
Home 
