Is Beckham Really Heading Back to the Galaxy?

By: Laurie | February 14th, 2009

David Beckham doesn’t want to go back to LA. The majority of fans don’t want him back in LA. So his stay in Milan is a done deal, right?

Not so fast.

The LA Galaxy set a deadline of Friday (yesterday) for AC Milan to make an offer. Milan didn’t come through. So, according to AEG CEO Tim Lieweke, Beckham is absolutely, definitely, without question headed back to LA on March 9.

Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of AEG, which owns the Los Angeles Galaxy, said today that AC Milan has not met Major League Soccer’s Friday deadline to make a better offer for the English midfielder and that no late offer would be considered.

“He will be back here on March 9 and we don’t want to entertain any more conversations now,” Leiweke said. “It is a distraction to [Galaxy Coach] Bruce Arena, the team and the fans and we move on. That’s the last we’re going to talk about this.”

Asked what would happen if AC Milan made an offer over the weekend or next week, Leiweke said: “They’ll come back. Sure they will. But we owe it to our fans [not to consider it]. They’ve been reading all these stories and we lose credibility by the day. That’s not fair. We owe it to Bruce and we owe it to the rest of the team. We’re a month away from our season.”

Leiweke said AC Milan had not come close to offering what Beckham is worth. “They’ve never been in the ballpark,” he said in terms of meeting AEG’s and the league’s asking price of more than $10 million. What they’ve tried to do is use David and use us. We’re not going to play that game any more. This has been extremely damaging and distracting for our team.

“I’ve been as courteous and as gracious as I possibly can out of respect for David, but now it’s time to move on. We need to get David excited about the team we’re building here and coming back.”

So is Beckham really headed back? Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it. AC Milan not making an offer before the deadline has strengthened the Galaxy’s bargaining position and weakened Beckham’s and Milan’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. “We don’t want to entertain any more conversations now” frequently means, “Now that you’ve missed our deadline, you’d better come up with a damn good offer.” Remember: The dollar is almighty.

Also? Don’t forget. Beckham is rich as Croesus. (Oh, come on. You know. Croesus.) Our Becks is not dependent on any other entity to buy his freedom. He can buy it for himself, if necessary. And it’s looking as if it may be necessary.

Right now, the Galaxy has a couple of best-case scenarios. One, Beckham comes back and actually leads the team to the playoffs. Or two, they sell him to Milan for a bunch of cash. Even the worst case scenario for the Galaxy is that Beckham comes back and sulks on the bench, or plays halfheartedly like he did in the last half of the 2008 season, while selling lots of tickets and jerseys.

The worst case for Beckham, though? Stagnation in the dying years of his career. Who do you think wants to end this more?

So the big question now? How badly does Beckham want to stay in Milan?

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Laurie

Yevy, I'm literally laughing out loud at your quote. That one had been in my mind as well in regards to this situation!
Yevy

By forcing Beckham to come back and dig ditches in LA the Galaxy would seriously damage the ability of the MLS to attract marketable foreign players for years to come. It is unheard of for a club in a second tier league to stand in the way of a player wanted by the Milans of the world. Why would someone like Henry or Figo want to come to a league where they would be treated like a show horse instead of a footballer?

That said I am all but certain this will get done. To adapt a George Bernard Shaw quote, "We have already established what you are, Mr. Beckham. Now we are just haggling over price."
Ken Maltby

And yes - the flagging system on here seems to have gone astray - I am a Brit who lives in (and posted from) Canada.
Ken Maltby

Excellent post Shazback - you hit the nail on the head with your comments. No one man makes (or breaks) a team!
Johnny

Once he does go, whom is a viable or available replacement acquisition as the L.A. DP?

Sorry, I guess that's a different thread topic.
fetyani

Business shall not be discussed on Derby week!

and its not over yet, at the end of the day its gonna go down to what David wants and decides.
Laurie

Haha! There's definitely something wrong with our flaggins system. I've got Rob showing up in the USA, when I know for a fact he's in the UK.
MLS Rumors

"Beckham isn’t the type of player to put in half arsed performances, even if he was stuck in America. I’ve never really seen him give less that 110% - it’s his best assest.

Posted from China
cornercorner"

Clearly you have not watched many of his MLS performances in China then.....
Shazback

If Becks goes the Webster route, he would be able to do it on July 7 2009 (IIRC), but not before. However, he would only have to pay his salary due by the club over the next 3 years (since he has 3 years left on his contract), and no collateral fees such as attendance loss, shirt sales loss or prize money loss.

It's not really in anybody's interest for it to go that way though, I think.

I'm more surprised at how little Arena and LAG have been trying to strengthen their team. Sure, the draft is still coming, but LAG's problem last season was that they were crap behind more than anything going forwards. They scored 55 goals, so it's not really understandable that the Galaxy don't want to stick to their attacking options (OK, Donovan wants out so it's hard for LAG to keep him, but they might be able to agree to keep him for one more season, since with Buddle they were very effective). They conceded 62 goals, so why they're not out there selling off their defenders is even harder to understand (they should have made that their #1 priority by mid-season last year, and yet in two transfer windows they haven't had any notable movement in that sector). Lastly, the club structure looks like it might need some tweaking (if the coach can't get the best out of his players and can't keep them motivated, then adjustments need to be made).

LAG seem to be lacking actual ambition to do anything else than cash in on Beckham. Sure, he's costing LAG lots (DP+big salary+...). But even Pele didn't win the NASL in his first full season, and only qualified for the play-offs in the second, despite considerable reinforcement in the person of Chinaglia. I wouldn't be surprised if Beckham has grown a bit disillusioned about the difference between what LAG were telling him before Jan 2007 and up to Jan 2008, and what's actually happened during these two years. LAG wanted to build a team that could challenge for the title, and the strike force can. But the defence and midfield can't. With the salary cap, there's a limit on how much a club can spend, but LAG's lack of activity to re-shape the defence both in July-August last year and in January this year do leave some questions as to LAG's desire to succeed. This lack of desire is visible in the squad, but also possibly for Beckham amongst the staff. Beckham has trained with some of the best coaches in the world, and the different training regimen at LAG might also be in his eyes a lack of desire/professionalism.

I'd like to think that Beckham will give 100% if he goes back to the Galaxy in March and will not invoke the Webster ruling, perhaps only leaving in Jan 2010. But I feel that he can only bear a little of the blame that is waged against him. If Manchester City stopped signing players and during next year Robinho announces he wants out (not qualified for CL, not improving squad, etc.) I would similarly find it hard to blame the player much, since he signed on the basis that whilst he would be the most substantial step in creating a CL-level team, he wouldn't be the only one.
Laurie

Rob, before the second half of this season, I would have agreed with you about the half-assed thing.

It would be interesting to see him try to invoke Webster. For a player over 28, it can be invoked two years after the contract. I'm guessing that since he signed the contract in January 2007 it might work, even though he didn't start playing till July. Which would kind of suck for the Galaxy. Any legal experts know?

It would also be interesting to see the dollar figure the Galaxy would aim for. Would it be just his salary for 2009, i.e. $6.5 mil? Is there anything about lost revenues from merchandising and ticket sales? Damage to third parties like Herbalife? I think Webster says salaries only, but Beckham is more brand than player, and I'd be surprised if all the extra contingencies weren't addressed in the original contract.

Boy, would the lawyers have fun with this!
Rob

Beckham isn't the type of player to put in half arsed performances, even if he was stuck in America. I've never really seen him give less that 110% - it's his best assest.

What's more likely is that if Beckham was that determined to stay in Milan, he'd invoke Webster's Clause and all hell would break loose.
Matt

I'm an RB's fan, so I wouldn't know for sure, but how will Galaxy fans react to his return, after all the talk of how he didn't want to come back?
Mike

No, offense, but I don't see how all of this has "damaged" the Galaxy. I mean there wasn't much to damage anyways, finishing tied for last place in the Western Conference with 33 points (less than everyone in the Eastern Conference.

I've got mixed feelings here. I'd like to see him stay with Milan because he's shown he's a great team player, a really hard worker and can produce. On the other hand at this point (and even before) his value was way over inflated (10m? Come on. More like 6 or 7) and now they Milan missed the deadline it would be even more. Also, I don't think it's helpful for Milan to be taking in more past their prime superstars. Let Becks go, bring back Gorcouf or buy a new younger player.