AC Milan Wants David Beckham

By: Laurie | October 17th, 2008

One could argue that the American dream hasn’t worked out so well for David Beckham. The LA Galaxy look set to miss the playoffs for the third season in a row — the second with Beckham on the roster. He’s lost his starting spot on the England national team. And he’s looking less happy and more frustrated on the field with each passing week.

Cue the Beckham-to-Milan rumors.

Several legit news sites are saying that he’s probably going to Milan after the MLS season to train with the team and maintain his fitness. You know — just in case Fabio Capello comes calling for those WC qualifiers. Beckham did the same thing last year at Arsenal, and it worked — he got his 100th cap for England in March and has been at least a sub in several games since.

But some members of the press, including the Italian press, are saying that AC Milan would prefer that Becks buy only a one-way ticket.

Milan chief Adriano Galliani admits that his club could have signed him and he will try again when Beckham arrives at Milanello this season. “If Beckham had stayed to play in Europe then we would have signed him. He would have been ours after his experience with Real Madrid, but it didn’t happen,” said Galliani.

Speculation is rife that Milan will make sure the Englishman is signed up quickly, and reports around the penisula suggest a multi-million pound bid as the Italian club tries to creat an international dream team by adding Beckham after the capture of Ronaldinho.

Granted, this is all speculation at this point. A Milan stint could actually be entirely about maintaining his level of fitness. But the fact that he’d be going to a team that was competing for his services when he was preparing to leave Real Madrid (as opposed to, say, going to train with Arsenal again) does make me wonder. And Milan does seem to have a fascination with adding big names to the roster, even if those big names might be slightly past their prime. (Ronaldinho, anyone?) Add in the fact that Beckham’s wife is now a fashion designer, which would make Milan all that much more appealing….

It does kind of make you go hmm.

If Beckham were to make a permanent move to Milan (or any other club), it would be a huge admission of failure on the part of MLS and the LA Galaxy. The Designated Player rule — which allows teams to sign one player and pay him largely outside the salary cap — isn’t known as “The Beckham Rule” for nothing. This was the rule that was going to change the face of MLS and give the league international credibility.

The Beckham signing was what got other international stars to say, “Hmm, maybe MLS is an option.” Beckham brought the league international attention, larger crowds and better merchandise sales. He increased the Butts-in-Seats factor exponentially for every game he played. If he were now to say, “I want out,” after two years of a five-year contract, it could be devastating to the league, both in terms of luring other big names to MLS and of developing play on the field.

I’d be curious to see whether or not there was some kind of escape clause written into Beckham’s contract. If not, I can’t imagine AEG (owners of the Galaxy) letting him go for anything less than tens of millions, if that.

(P.S. Oh, come on. You knew I couldn’t write a post on the twin subjects of “Beckham” and “Milan” without including this photo that combines the two. But at least I put it below the jump.)