Beckhams’ Real United
David & Victoria Beckham saddle up…
IF David Beckham went to Los Angeles would others follow?
It might happen.
“ADIOS?” asks the Mirror’s front-page headline. “Beckham to decide TODAY if he’ll quit Spain for America.”
“I PLAY OR IT’S L.A.,” echoes the Sun’s front-page “exclusive”. This is “David’s threat to Real chiefs”. Or, rather, David’s threat to the accountants at Real Madrid, who will surely miss the revenue Becks brings in from shirt sales, if not the money earned from his bringing home the silverware – Real have won nothing while Beckham has been at the club.
The Sun hears a “source” close to Beckham say: “The challenge in America is to get American kids to fall in love with football. No other player – even greats like Pele and George Best – have managed it. It would be an incredible achievement.”
(Clive Toye, former president of the New York Cosmos, Pele’s team, has said: “Then, Pele was the greatest player in the game. The difference now is that Beckham is the greatest hype in the game… I’d still sign him, though, for the shirt sales and the occasional free-kick.")
So if Beckham, who struggles to get into the Real Madrid team, goes to America would others follow? Would more American youth and men start to play the rest of the world’s version of football and tune into the country’s Major League Soccer (think the Scottish Premier League with tans, better teeth and no Sash)?
The stage is set for Beckham to make his move. Just recently Major League Soccer passed a rule allowing clubs to circumvent the wage cap. Brand Beckham may not need just to rely on shirt sales to make ends meet.
Although clothes are important. As the Sun notes, Victoria Beckham is keen on a move to California, even if she runs the risk of looking fat and pale in her new setting.
Vicky has been house-hunting in Los Angeles. Her range of jeans is available in some American shops. And, as a source tells the Sun, “Victoria met J-Lo at a party in New York last year and they hit it off instantly.” We learn that David “gets on well” with J-Lo’s husband Marc Anthony.
These are the considerations in the choice the Beckhams might be facing. Throw in Tom Cruise, whom Becks “considers to be one of his closest friends”, and the choice becomes a little clearer.
“HOWDY,” says the Mirror’s headline. “Beam me up,” says Dave…
Posted: 11th, January 2007 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
