Beckham Loan to AC Milan Confirmed & More
CNN confirmed with David Beckham's agent today that the Galaxy midfielder will head to Italy's AC Milan on a two-month loan in the wake of the club's tour Down Under after the MLS season concludes so he can retain his fitness for England.
It does not sound like he's going to miss much, if any, of the MLS preseason, according to this quote in England's Daily Mail from Beckham agent Simon Oliveira:
"Nothing is confirmed yet, but the intention is to go to AC Milan on loan for January and February. He would be going there with the view to keeping fit and being available for selection for England."The idea is he then goes back to the Galaxy to join up with their pre-season in March. He will not be joining AC Milan permanently. He had a five-year contract with the Galaxy
and has three years left and every intention of fulfilling that."
AC Milan are currently sitting fifth in the league.
Updated 10:28 a.m. Got off the phone a few minutes ago with the Galaxy PR folks who tell me his Beckhamness will not be addressing the media on the issue after training today (he usually only deigns to speak to reporters once a week). We'll see. But that would be par for the course: a global news story, Beckham in our back yard and he's not talking.
In other Beckham-related news, he's agreed to do his bit for England's 2018 World Cup bid.
Speaking of the World Cup, there's much gnashing of teeth south of the border over Mexico's World Cup qualifying status - or lack thereof.
Finally, this just in from the "I live in a glass house" department - North Korean nutjob Kim Jong Il is not at all pleased with the nation's hairy soccer players.
Because, of course, that rich, famine-free and non-authoritarian nation doesn't have more pressing issues than a "follicular clampdown".
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Here's the pivotal question: Is he going to play for Milan or merely train? If Beckham is merely going to train, then I suspect AEG would have no problem with this (especially since AEG allowed Beckham to train with Arsenal last year). If he's going to play in actual Serie A games, then it shows that Beckham's representatives are essentially running the Galaxy; I can't imagine Leiweke consenting to this without substantial outside pressure.
Nick replies: He probably has a provision in his contract that allows for an off-season loan deal, don't you think?
Well, according to the following link, Beckham will play for Milan:
http://www.goal.com/en-US/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=925524
Leiweke can't be too happy about this after the injuries Beckham suffered last year. He also can't be too happy about the influence that Beckham's people apparently have in the organization (Exhibit A: Gullit's hiring; Exhibit B: Leiweke insisting that Arena become head coach *and* GM).
I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall in some of these meetings between Leiweke and Beckham's representatives.
Nick replies: A loan deal always means a player plays, not just trains, with the team he's loaned out to, Joseph.
If he gets injured, than you can expect the whole insurance system to go bankrupt!
Money makes decisions!!!! Everyone knows that. Look at the last eight years. Just look at Dick Cheney wield the monetary power of Halliburton.
All bow down to the mighty power of AEG!