Could it really be close to ending? Could the David Beckham to Milan soap opera be coming to a close?
Try to contain your excitement.
AC Milan officials implied today that they are moving closer to completing a deal for Beckham. That could mean anything from a transfer is nearly agreed to AEG president Tim Leiweke is finally off the ski slope or beach he was vacationing at this week.
According to Leiweke, the fresh reports don't mean anything and there has been NO progress in talks with Milan.
Yes, feel free to vomit.
Whatever is really going on, here's hoping the situation will REALLY be resolved soon. In fact, this will be the last Beckham transfer post on SBI until a transfer is officially announced. I promise.
What do you think will ultimately make the deal happen? Will Milan pay more money? Will the Galaxy actually convince a Milan player to come as part of swap (Shevchenko anybody)? Will AEG make Beckham buy all of the unsold Beckham jerseys left in the warehouse?
Share your thoughts below.
Anyone feel like singing the Clash…Should I stay or should I go…
I applaud the Galaxy (and the league) for staying firm. Milan, along with most teams in Europe, have little respect for MLS. By showing they can’t be pushed around by the big boys, they will garner more respect, and hopefully be taken more seriously in the future. I’ve said all along that Beckham would be here at the start of the season, and I still stand by that. Same with Landycakes.
I don’t care about Beckham, He don’t care about me…
I agree with Ko’d but $4 million??? Thats crazy! I dont understand why Milan is playing games with this whole process. You want or dont want him.
/yaawwwwwnnnnnnn
Screw Beck’s….either finish out your binding contract or get Milan to pay fair price.
My thoughts are simple. At this point I’d like to see Becks go from MLS and succeed in Milan, but Milan has to appreciate what Beckham means to this league and compensate for that. Especially after Beckham broke his “professionalism” with his stupid comments after every game in Italy.
So sick of this story. A player in his situation would be a cancer if he comes back to MLS. We have seen in time and time again when players are denied transfer requests (which this is, if we are being realistic).
The cost of having him in MLS is far greater than the cost of extending this thing out in hopes of getting a few (extra) million dollars.
This deal isn’t happening, folks, unless Milan comes up with $15 million and a key player trade or $20 million flat. That’s my call…and BTW, I’m done with this. It’s been discussed ad nauseum.
It would be funny as hell if Becks comes back, gets injured badly, misses the season & doesn’t get to play in the 2010 world cup.
From ESPN, this is Leiweke speaking:
“I have said yes, because of him. But I will not be taken for a ride and hence, on March 9, Beckham will be in Los Angeles and will work with the same seriousness and dedication as before.
“He already knows he doesn’t have a choice because the first option to come out of his contract is at the end of 2009.”
Beckham signed a five-year contract with the Galaxy in January 2007 after a successful spell with Real Madrid.
“What really matters is that Milan make a real offer,” Leiweke said.
“I don’t wish to talk about the offer but the figures (£12m) that I have read in the United States are close to what we want.”
Becks needs to man up and finish his ’09 season, then get out of here.
I don’t understand Italy’s infatuation with Beckham.
If you watch the games in which he has played, Zambrotta does all the work on the right hand side. Beckham has a few touches and everyone says, “oohhh ahhh”
Rewind to Galaxy games last year. I think a case can be made that most of the attacks against the Galaxy came off Beckham’s side of the field.
Galaxy had the 2 old guys on the same side that could not track back and provide defensive cover when they gave up the ball.
At 33, he is a marketing gimic. Capello should be pushing for Bentley, Shawn Wright-Philips to step up their game and contribute to the National Team. Just goes to show that England really sucks, if they are relying on Beckham to save them with a free kick.
Sell him!!! The bastard doesn’t wanna play in the MLS anymore. The galaxy wants to win championships, and Beckham doesn’t want to be here anymore.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy and MLS are at the front of a world-wide news headline, and they don’t want to look like chumps. They aren’t going to sell him unless Milan offers over $10 mil or a trade.
Some juicy comments from Leiweke in the press now saying nothing is even close to happening. Look for Becks to be back in March.
I say sell him while you can
He put butts in the seats once but that won’t happen again. People come out expecting to see something special and other than an occasional free kick, he can’t do that. They won’t come back a second time
He’s still a strong player when he doesn’t have to carry the team and he and Donovan can’t carry LA. Staying in LA another year would kill any career he has left
David Beckham, I mean Tom Cruise…”Please come out of the closet!”
Yea, agreed. I’m no Beckham fan, but he has done what MLS wanted – raised it’s profile. The league is talked/written about now around the world. That certainly wasn’t the case before he came.
That job is done. It’s time for him to move on.
Alex, Chelsea has been in the red since Abramovich took over. Nothing new there.
Don’t give a crap. Let him go wherever he wants but MLS should not get shafted by the Berlusconi thugs. The hoopla is soon gonna die down and he’ll be warming Milan’s benches.
If he really wants to stay in Milan, why doesn’t he pay MLS himself? He has plenty of money. On the other hand, maybe his golden balls are being twisted by Posh who wants to stay in Hollywood where people speak English–kind of.
More like he came, most American paid little attention.. his projected worth took a dent… he left for Milan for his final harrah
Becks couldn’t hack doing what he said he wanted to do in MLS. A professional should be a team player and honor contracts. MLS should stand strong, and LA should bench the backstabbing S.O.B period, he’s old anyway, let him waste away in italy, as what he is, a circus freak!
He came, he sold a lot of tickets, he gave the MLS a much needed publicity boost, and he left.
The End
I appreciate that pledge of this being the last post before an official transfer
Who’s Beckham? Is he that guy who was always waving at the crowd from the bench at the LA games last year? I’m not sure, because he rarely took the field.
Wonder if MLS will be allowing loan deals next Winter?
I think AEG should just bite the bullet and make mr becks come back to MLS and make him suit up and sit on the bench for every game the full season! That way every teams home fans will all get a chance to boo him one last time!!!
@Tony in Quakeland
Well, said!
“I am just concerned about Posh. I know she wants to stay in LA where she can continue her glorious acting career.”
Hey, she was really good on Ugly Betty.
Hokie, all player contracts are owned by MLS, however both the team AND the league have to sign off on a transfer.
No chance Ives keeps his promise.
I like that the Galaxy are standing firm on this one. The guy made a commitment for a minimum of three years and he’s barely given then two. The team gave him what he wanted in a loan to Milan to keep fit for the national team and it back fired in their face with it really being a covert attempt out of his contract. And on top of it all, Milan is trying to low ball the Galaxy out of a market transfer fee. Many have looked upon this episode as egg on the face of the MLS for what is perceived as a failed marketing tactic, but they really should be seeing this as is the first time MLS stood toe to toe with a Euro super club and stood their ground.
Once upon a time I hated David Beckham. I had to. I hate Man U and, being half Irish, root passionately against the England national team. I delighted in his red card against Argentina, his slip on the sod in the PK shoot out against Germany. I giggled at the deer in the headlights look in his eyes as he tried to look cool in fashion shoots.
Then he came here to a league I love and want to see thrive. He said all the right things and went out of his way to be nice. I hated to do it, but I had to stop hating him. It would be a relief just to go back to the hate I felt previously.
But alas, he has given me fresh reasons to hate him. He went back on his word. Worse, somehow many people are making this as a failure for MLS, that a guy who had little on field impact in MLS can somehow have an impact in Seire A. Maybe he just wasn’t man enough for our league? Maybe he is a shallow, self-centered git whose importance to England 2010 is a measure of how unlikely England is to go deep in South Africa?
Ten years from now, our thriving, high quality domestic league will look back with a little bit of astonishment at the whole Beckham saga. But in the short term, we are going to somehow be objects of ridicule…
Can’t wait to see the bastard go. We don’t need him in our colors. Something will come back to bite him in the ass soon enough, like a proper benching at ACM, he’s already had 2 hamstring problems in the last few games and I can probably see ACM backing out of the deal so as to not pay a higher amount for forseeable damaged goods…either way, Mr. Becks DON’T COME BACK!
Ives,
Don’t encourage them please.
There is no news here to report:
AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani told Gazzetta dello Sport: “In the past few hours we have taken steps forward. We are more confident now.
“I am not optimistic nor pessimistic.
“Can the deal be completed next week? We shall see.”
It just sounds like another Italian that likes to hear himself talk.
As deciphered from a part Italian that likes to see his own posts.
Chelsea is running operations in the red, they would take any type of liquidation sale, as they have said they need to sell over the summer anyways. My personal opinion is get on with it already if milan really wanted Becks they would have poneyed up already so the money is going to have to come out of his pocket. On a brighter note the gals didn’t look to bad the back line looks like with a few more games they are going to be really tough. My question to everyone how come we (americans) get so much stick for our standard of play and no one says anything about whats going on in Asia? These teams are seen in a more postive light in the euro world it makes no sense to me.
That wasn’t sarcasm I can just see a couple more twists and turns before all is said and done.
Ooooooh – Ives, tough promise. I hope you’ll be able to stick to that one…….
Noooooooo Sheva, please. How about if we take some of Milan’s young up-and-comers who can’t get into a game at Milan — like South America under-21 star Tabare Viudez — for a couple of years?
http://www.nomoreonionbags.com
How, exactly, would Shevchenko end up in LA? He’s not a Milan player, he’s on loan from Chelsea. Now, maybe Chelsea would approve the loan to LAG, but it’s hard to imagine what they get out of it.
As for Beckham, LAG would be better off with the money. He’s going in October anyway, so be smart and take the $6-8M you would have paid him to miss the playoffs again anyway. Then go and buy someone who can actually help fill the clubs holes on the pitch.
The reality of the situation is the both clubs want Beckham only for sweet shirt sale moolah. Neither care about him as a player. Face it, Beckham is on the bench as soon as Gattuso is back – don’t tell me an Italian team is going to bench a crucial Italian national in a World Cup year.
least we won’t have to read about him anymore…i would think sheva would have some interest with the American wife and all, couldn’t be worse than denilson
as long as MLS is properly compensated I don’t really care.
I really dont care…. Please Beckham Move away!!!! Fast!!! You didnt do any good for our league….. !
I am still confused by this transfer…… I thought that MLS was in charge of all transfers?
Sheva might actually do something to help the Galaxy if he comes…
I thought it was a dumb idea on his part to come here in the first place…..
I am just concerned about Posh. I know she wants to stay in LA where she can continue her glorious acting career. Think about your wife Becks!!
The anti Golden Balls signs and Jerseys that littered the Home Depot Center last night, should tell the LAG something about the problems they would face in bringing Becky back to La La Land.
The anti Golden Balls signs and Jerseys that littered the Home Depot center last night should;d tell the LAG something about the problems they would face in forcing Becky back to LaLa.
beckham will be with the galaxy cause MLS will not approve the transfer.