David Beckham will be staying at AC Milan after all. Well, at least until the summer.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan have reached an agreement on a deal that will keep Beckham with Milan through the end of the Serie A season. The move would mean that Beckham could not re-join the Galaxy until July 15, which would cause Beckham to miss more than half the MLS regular season (17 total Galaxy games).
The LA Times is also suggesting that the new agreement is worth more than $10 million, a seemingly outrageous figure for simply extending a loan two more months. Whether that figure includes the value of players being included from Milan remains to be seen.
What do you think of this news? Share your thoughts below.
The LA Galaxy Circus continues. If Becks has any common sense he’ll jet to London for every England handshake and afternoon tea. Good luck Bruce, you’ll need it.
I will be surprised if Graham Jones got this one right. Artman said it best when he remarked that this would be a first …
Ridiculous. He doesn’t want to be in LA. And LA wants the money off the books. Just do a deal. When Beckham comes back comes to the Galaxy he have played nearly a year without a break. That’s no good for anyone.
Chase,
What seasons past 2010? That is pure conjecture or rumor on someone’s part, not what is being reported.
No, after this deal, Beckham is effectively an AC Milan player and will be on loan to the Galaxy for 3 maybe 4 months this summer. I’m sure he’ll put in a big effort then, right.
No, MLS and AEG almost completely caved into Beckham’s demands and frankly, it looks kind of bush league on the Americans’ parts.
WOW, if this is the case, the MLS are making out like bandits… NOT only do they get $10 Million, BUT they also get him for half a season, so they don’t have to pay back their sponsors for damages. AND, they are going to be able to sell major tickets again… Beckham will play hard b/c he knows the US is his future after he retires, he is going to live in California, and he needs his reputation intact to be a star. I wouldn’t be surprised if playing half the season was his idea, in order to keep face… If this is really what the deal is to look like, I like it a lot… The best part, Beckham is gone after this year no matter what
Eugene,
Four months and potentially a couple more seasons post 2010 is far better for fans and advertisers than never playing for the Galaxy again (which was a distinct possibility).
angler23,
You are ignoring the time Beckham will likely spend in the England NT summer camp just before the two WCQs againt mighty Kazakhstan and Andorra.
Another interesting item to add here, is that Beckham could also miss up to 3 or 4 of the 12 matches he is due to play for the Galaxy, assuming he is called up for the friendlies with Holland and Slovenia in August, and the final WCQs against Croatia, Ukraine, and Belarus in the fall.
I might sound repetitive, but it will be amazing to see if he makes it through this in one piece.
If there was one circumstance I couldn’t have envisioned… one deal that made MLS look like a complete and utter joke…
… it is THIS.
Screw Beckham. I was his supporter and a fan until right now, this moment. I no longer am. F**k him.
1) MLS wouldn’t have looked like a joke if he just left – he didn’t want to stay in the first place.
2) MLS wouldn’t have looked like a joke if he stayed – he is under contract and would have to come and compete and help make the Galaxy a good team and do good unto the fans for his comments about wanting to leave.
3) MLS wouldn’t have looked like a joke if he bought out his contract – again, he didn’t want to be here and we are under no delusion that the Serie A and AC Milan improve his chances for playing Internationally.
4) MLS looks like a complete joke now. Beckham DOESN’T WANT TO BE HERE! And, now MLS caves? They scrape to have him here at least part of the season? WHY??! They look like cowards… minor league… chumps. Is Beckham really going to just RACE back to MLS after his season is over? Is his 34-year-old body going to be in good shape after more than a year of solid playing?
This is a joke! I’m embarrassed.
This is very odd. Perhaps the MLS got less money than they were asking for him, so demanded at least some playing time for him, and meanwhile, AC gets him for the rest of the season.
MLS doesn’t look bad, but it sure looks weird.
I see no reason for Becks to even play hard upon his return according to how this deal is being reported. On the contrary, if I were him I’d half arse it and save my energy. Northzax is for the most part correct – he’s played a ton of football and he’s no spring chicken.
how in the hell i$ AC Milan willing to pay money for Beckham when their re$ult$ have not improved with hi$ pre$ence? Nothing, and I repeat, nothing about anything David Beckham doe$ make$ $en$e. I live in MN but would $eriou$ly con$ider driving to Chicago to boo hi$ a$$ off the field.
“Financially, the agreement is said to be worth multimillion dollars to the Galaxy and to MLS, although no exact figures were known. The Galaxy had been seeking more than $10-million from Milan for an outright purchase of Beckham, but the new arrangement is believed to be worth far more than that.”
^^^This is the key ‘graph in the LAT story. However, I wouldn’t read this as ACM agreeing to a deal whereby they will pay the Galaxy money outside of Beckham’s salary and some kind of modest compensation for extending the loan. Instead, the more-than-$10 million figure is probably derived from a mixture of the extended loan fee, savings on Beckham’s salary, any ‘out’ money he has to put forward to trigger his release, and, probably most crucially, some scenario whereby if Beckham is still a Galaxy player (technically, even if he’s out on loan) and appears in xyz number of games this year, sponsors/broadcasters/advertisers cannot back out of their contracts with the league or LA, thus *saving* the league a substantial loss.
Sure, this is speculation, but I think it’s probably the most likely explanation for what’s going on here.
If Beckham can opt out of his contract in November, then this loan would ammount to a trade with AC Milan loaning Beckham to the US from July to November (when he’s out of contract).
Maybe the Galaxy wants to mask the actual trade to get some shelf life out of Beckham, or maybe they’ll give us $10 million in AC Milan dollars (to exchange for the loan of a couple of their players).
I doubt this is the end of the Beckham saga.
It was great revenue for the MLS when he came to DC last summer and the attendance shot up 15,000 to 20,000. But there was another story taking place, the attendance for that game more than doubled any other game; in some cases tripled. But as I looked around, most did not watch the game, they were like paparazzi waiting to snap a picture and then get back on their cell phones. I like watching Beckham play…when it’s across the pond. Let the true fans go to the games here.
Tim, I was just speculating there. If the Galaxy got $10 million in cash for extending Beckham’s loan by two months then AEG deserves a lot of credit.
Of course, this means that the circus isn’t over yet, it’s just on hold until the summer.
Yeah bummer for seattle… The Gals won’t have Beckman in tow.. I hear they sold out of single game tickets for the entire season in 3 hours
I’m with those that think this smells fishy. I’m not getting excited or disappointed until I hear more details.
I want the guy gone and I’m a Galaxy fan but there’s no way Milan would have upped the offer on their own. I think DB himself must be making some concessions and ponying up some dough to make this happen.
If you don’t want us, we don’t want you. We’ll be a better team because of it.
this story and contract conditions are also being reported in italy.an official statement is supposedly coming soon and the official announcement is supposed to be mar.7th according to reports in italy.
I’m confused. Ives mentioned something about other players involved but I see no mention of that in the article. Is it just conjecture on Ives’ part?
Couple of things. First, after a nice start, Becks hasn’t been playing all that well lately, so Milan may come to regret this. Second, the deal requires that Becks sit on his goldenballs from May 31 to the middle of July because of MLS’ transfer window? Please. MLS has tinkered with the rules midstream before, and they should again so Becks can play here in June and early July and MLS can wring out every dollar they can. Third, for all the MLS neysayers, both Raul and Guti indicated this week that they would like to play in the U.S. before 2011. No, they won’t be in their prime, but yes, they will likley be better than 97% of the talent on the MLS fields anyway. Add Henry and a few other solid post-2010 names, and you have much better league. No Becks, probably doesn’t happen. The post-2010 WC MLS will look a lot better than this one.
I still think LA should have asked AC Milan to throw in a 6 month loan for Yoann Gourcouff from Milan.
JUST GET RID OF HIM ALREADY. He cant do anythingelse in the MLS.
It all comes down to the numbers. If the 10 milli is a real figure, MLS won big time by playing hardball.
Hope the +$10M is true. That would be a big win for MLS. To bad Becks wouldn’t be available for the Seattle match though. I could see a sold out Qwest Field with all the screaming girls sitting in the nose bleeds.
I hope DB blows his ACL. End of Game. End of Story… DB is well a DB (_ouche _ag).
Hmmm, pretty sure that since this hasn’t been confirmed by anyone on the record that this breaks your “No David Beckham” embargo, doesn’t it?
Tsk tsk 😉
MLS looks like big joke!
I am a Galaxy season ticket holder who trouble swallowing these arrangements in the 90s with Hernandez & Hermosillo.
We have the highest season ticket prices in the league partly due to Beckham I wonder if they well kick us some money back?
Commissioner Garber looks like be joke with his deadline!
Can’t make myself believe this. Milan wouldn’t up their $3 million offer for basically an 8 month loan, then all of a sudden they’re willing to pay more than $10 million for a 3 month loan?
I’ll believe it when I see Beckham play a match with Milan after this Sunday.
northzax, he’s not playing non-stop. He’s off from May 1st to July 15th 09′, he’s then off from the end of the MLS season to January 1, 2010. More vacation time than most footballers get these days.
BTW Ives,
I wonder how much Milan are getting for their friendly in Qatar(?) tomorrow night. I know they already have a lot of draw, but they seem to be playing an awful lot more friendlies since Beckham arrived.
10,000 might not be as much as it seems (in marketing terms that is).
its unfair for the LAG to take a salary hit while Beckham is gone. He’ll be hogging up 300-400k in salary cap room and he wont even be there.
I guess Garber will “grandfather” Donovan for another year to justify this.
Milan gets a few extra months to sell more shirts…beckham comes back to LA and works on his tan during the summer
True northzax. On the other hand the man does have problems sitting still (see all those tatoos? during injury lay-offs). Pretty much since he joined the England NT — between World Cups, EUROS, World CLUB Cup, ManU and Real Madrid AND England summer promo tours — he hasn’t had more than a few weeks off at a time until last winter.
Beckham keeps pretty fit, but he’s not the only one in that boat, and I don’t think the packed schedules for Int’l players on top teams are that healthy in general.
WOW, Tim Leiweke do you see Ashton Kutcher around you anywhere? Because you’ve been punk’d! The Beckham “resolution” is a ridiculous deal that doesn’t serve the Galaxy or MLS fans at all.
Way to give in. Just make the rat come back on March 9th and play out the MLS season. He should be free to go after that. All these machinations to get the guy for three maybe four months? How demeaning. Your sponsors should feel similarly punk’d.
Off topic – if anyone has presale password to USA vs Honduras at Soldier Field, please email me at JPTravel82@yahoo.com. Thx
I say the balls in your court now Fabio!! If he’s not in world cup plans he doesn’t go back to milan in november, I’ll pt money on it No reason for him to pony up his own money to play in italy if he’s not even going to feature for england.
This sounds screwy. I think there are to many this themn that in the situation. Besides I thought we were not talking about him until it was finalized.
ok, so in other words, leading up to South Africa, a then 34 year old Beckham will have played non-stop for two years, with no offseason. insane.
Republican, I’m just speculating here, but perhaps some of that money is including the buyout that Beckham is going to have to pony up to get out of his contract at the end of the year.
This sounds bizarre and incredibly complex, but maybe it is really the dream scenario for both sides.
Beckham gets to prove his worth to England (and his inclusion in WCQs this summer) by staying with Milan through the rest of the season. He will then likely be with Milan again from Jan-May ’10, which acts as a perfect lead-up to justify his inclusion in England’s WC team (assuming they qualify).
The Galaxy get Beckham for a half of a season in 2009, appeasing angry season ticket holders and sponsors, while also keeping the possibility alive that he might return to MLS post-WC 2010. Not too mention the salary payments they will save as part of this deal.
Milan gets to continue selling Beckham shirts for another couple of years, not to mention a decent right-midfielder to consolidate their CL position and to mount a serious Scudetto challenge next year.
The big wildcard here is Beckham’s health. This scenario is going to mean a lot of football for a guy approaching his middle 30s and a major injury could derail the entire thing.
Who would have thought both Beckham and Donovan would both be back this season?
need to see the full details here. Wonder if Becks is channeling a large portion of his image rights to LA and that is where the additional $$ is coming from.
Its not cash for a trasnfer, if that were the case Milan would have just bought him outright at the 10M figure.
Whatever, as long as MLS is happy with the deal its fine by me.
If Ives says it, it must be true!
Yuck!
Maybe that figure includes covering Beckham’s salary till late July?
Ives,
I just checked and the Galaxy are at the Red Bulls on July 18th. The story says that Beckham’s first game would be on July 25th, when the Galaxy are at the Wizards. If Beckham can play after July 15th, why would he miss the July 18th game against the Red Bulls?
That’s a first!
No not Beckham, but Graham Jones claiming a breaking a West Coast soccer story???
First game back is against NYRB. Haha, I can’t wait to hear 46,000 people booing him. I really can’t.
So let’s see what’s really happening here:
Beckham is actually playing for AC Milan and being loaned to LA Galaxy for 4 months until he returns to play for AC Milan again after getting out of his MLS contract.
SJ fans, NY fans and Chicago fans who felt screwed by AEG in the past . . . this is for you! LOL!!!!
Something is screwy here. If it’s more then 10 Million I’m sure they could have him.
Maybe they reached some kind of deal where Becks could come back to the US at a future date after his 2 years or so in Milan.
Right on MLS!! nice to hear that crook Berlusconi tasted some of his own medicine.
A player returning from a loan to the club holding his registration would need to await the transfer window? Not usually, so why in this case?
i bet mls is sorry they only scheduled SIX GAMES for the months of sept and oct.. in 06, beckham visited almost every team in the league in an official season game after july 15 (albeit he ended up injured for most of em) – the only team they missed, houston i believed, the la galaxy played a super liga game against away.. nonetheless, i’m happy red bull / galaxy is july 18th this year
Ives,
Will this Give LAG allocation money with this extended loan? if its 10 mill then it would give LAG an extra 500k to spend…. RBNY got 500k for its 10 mil Jozy sale….