As David Beckham’s proposed move to Spurs is being held up by the proposed length of his stay, as opposed to any monetary stipulations, perhaps it would be best for all concerned if Beckham attempted to move to cancel his contract with LA Galaxy, which expires this coming November and make his stay at Spurs a permanent one.
I have to say, I’m surprised Spurs have been able to tempt Beckham back to our fair shores, such was the player’s insistence that he could never turn out for another Premiership club such is his loyalty to former employers Manchester United. But Redknapp, in this instance at least, has lived up to his ‘wheeler dealer’ tag, despite the manager’s hatred for the phrase which is often attributed to him.
Beckham, ever since his move to LA Galaxy, has been looking for ways back into European football, and in that respect at least, it was an unwise move. He clearly had a lot to offer still in Europe and was quite the hit in his first spell at AC Milan. Even now, at the ripe old age of 35, he still has bundles to offer a club such as Spurs.
His experience is second to none in the modern game, he’s as professional as they come, and any young players lucky enough to earn an England call-up in the past five years have always gone on record as saying that he was extremely useful in passing on both his knowledge and advice whenever he could to the younger generation. These sorts of assets could prove invaluable for Spurs in what is fast becoming a memorable season for the club.
His motives for such a move are clear, Beckham has unfinished business at international level. The fact that Capello has ruled him out of his plans, in a TV interview no less, has left Beckham disappointed by Capello’s actions but unperturbed all the same.
While at Real Madrid, upon announcing his intention to leave the club at the end of the season to embark on his LA adventure, Capello froze Beckham out for a number of months, until the player’s sheer enthusiasm became to difficult to ignore and he inspired them to the La Liga title in 2006/7. Capello has previous in underestimating Beckham it would appear.
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LA Galaxy are open to a Beckham loan move but wish to take a tougher stance than they have done in the future. In the past, with Beckham and to a lesser extent, Landon Donovan, the club have bent over backwards to keep their stars happy and allow them the opportunity to play in Europe when it’s clubs came calling. But after just returning from a lengthy absence with an Achilles injury, Galaxy are determined that Beckham return on February 10th in time for the start of the new Major League Soccer season which starts on March 15th.
A completely understandable position to take on their part. It was a similar loan move to AC Milan last season that prompted the achilles injury that ruled Beckham out of this summer’s World Cup and the start of the league season in the US and they don’t want to take any unnecessary chances by helping to prolong his stay while simultaneously cutting his pre-season with them short.
Beckham moved to La Galaxy to help promote football over in the US, and from the looks of things, he’s done that, all while delivering some success on the pitch for Galaxy in helping them win the MLS Western Conference the last two seasons and the MLS shield.
I think Beckham knows now that his move to LA Galaxy was a bit premature in it’s timing and was prompted more by his situation at Real Madrid at the time under Capello rather than any great desire to succeed in the US. Cancelling his contract obviously won’t come cheap, but perhaps it’s in the best interests of his career.
He’s always seemed less dedicated to LA Galaxy than any of his other sides and with time running out, a permanent move to Spurs could be just the swansong Beckham wants after a tumultuous and great career.
What does everyone else think? Should Beckham try to engineer a permanent move to Spurs? Is this both out of character and under the circumstances, out of the question?
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