So I want to take a quick minute to talk about the rumored loan of David Beckham to AC Milan. I’m going to look at this deal primarily from the perspective of the league. I will leave it up to David himself and those close to him to decide what is best for him personally, he has so far outstripped what I will likely ever accomplish that I don’t think it’s my place to be giving him personal advice. Anyway here we go:
Definite Cons:
The Galaxy will most likely be a very different team next season (working from the assumption that they actually want to win). There is talk that this loan deal could have Beckham skipping the MLS preseason to play in Italy. This would be bad for the team and therefore more likely to lead to them struggling at best in the league and is therefore bad for the league’s image. The self proclaimed jewel of the league should at least be competitive and Beckham not being around for preseason makes that less likely to happen, how less likely no one knows, but definitely some.
It seems that Bruce Arena has about as much to do with the decision on this loan deal as I do, which is to say absolutely none. I understand that keeping David happy is very important for the league and I have no problem with that, but if MLS wants to be taken seriously the coach and general manager for the Galaxy should have at least gotten to be a fly on the wall during any talks about loaning out his captain. I mean come on, let’s at least try not to look like a league that’s run by middle school kids.
Potential Cons:
I would say the three potential biggest problems with loaning out any player are the same in this case, namely injury, injury, and injury. Beckham is paid to play for the LA Galaxy, or at least to get them to sell a whole lot of jerseys, I’m not really sure there is a big difference between the two anymore anyway. If he gets hurt in Italy then he won’t play for the Galaxy, it’s that simple. Unfortunately injury is a part of pro sports and there is no way around it, however there are ways to minimize the risk and one of those methods is called an off-season. Being a pro athlete is simply hard on the body, some bodies take it better than others but regardless it is more difficult physically that say being employed as a lawyer or accountant. Part of the reason there is an off season is to allow the body time to recover and regroup. If David goes and plays in Milan, he will affectively have eliminated his off-season. While this might be great for jersey sales, it could be potentially disastrous for his body.
Let’s say that he ends up really liking Italy and never returns to the Galaxy, then people all around the world will say that our little league is just a joke and despite throwing a rumored million dollars a week we couldn’t even keep Beckham in our league, it must be such a crappy league that no amount of money can make up for the shame of being associated with it. At least that’s what people would probably be saying and I can’t say I would be able to have a lot of good points to contradict them in that case.
There is the potential that he will fail miserably, truthfully I have never thought that Beckham was anywhere near the best player on the planet (yes, way better than me, but not the best on the whole planet). He is sort of a specialist on free kicks and crosses, while those can be important aspects of any game, there have certainly been stretches where he isn’t even the best player on his own team, be that team Manchester, Madrid, Los Angeles, or I bet even his school mates playing in the local park. He is good, yes, but great, I don’t think so. So let’s say he gets to Milan and pretty much falls flat on his face, makes no good impression on teammates, coaches, or fans. People will say he is totally washed up and that spending three years in the soft and laughable MLS has made him no better than any average bloke on a local pub team. Not exactly what we want people to be saying about our league’s one superstar.
Definite Pros:
He will get to play more, which means he will be seen more, which means he will be more famous, which means (you guessed it) more jersey sales.
He’ll be more likely to get the call for England. Since he will theoretically be more in game shape as well as geographically closer he will be more likely to play for his national side, which again leads to more exposure and jersey sales and is therefore good for MLS. Also just the mention that the league has a player of the caliber of playing for the English national side is great prestige for the league as a whole, even if he does have a limited role. Despite recent results and struggles much of the world still very much looks up to the Brits’ team as one of the best.
Potential Pros:
He plays really great. If Beckham comes into Milan and is basically able to transform the team and they look simply unbeatable with him in the lineup it would simply be great for MLS. This event would certainly prove that MLS is not a soft league where players can come to basically retire and would show that playing and training in the US hasn’t been detrimental to Beckham’s skills like many thought it would be. Ironically such a great performance would perhaps be even better if he then returns to a Galaxy side that struggles. While some might point out (at least partially correctly in my opinion) that such a turn would prove that his American teammates are simply not on par with his teammates in Italy. It would also point out that the level of competition here in MLS is closer to being on par with that in Europe than most people had previously believed.
My personal conclusion:
I think when you boil it all down such a move would most likely be good for MLS. Yes it is risky, just like signing Beckham in the first place was risky. In the end, however, I think that David is still basically the same player he was in Manchester and in Madrid and I believe that a short turn in Italy would prove that point to many skeptical fans which would then go a long way toward them taking MLS seriously as a league. Would it be better if he was able to be in camp to meet and assimilate to his new teammates before the next season starts? Yes. Would it have been much better if Bruce Arena had more to do with this whole transfer? No doubt. Still, I say despite those obvious problems and despite the chance for injury, the extra exposure along with the potential prestige of holding a player that is still desirable to the powerful clubs of the world like AC Milan is simply too much for MLS to walk away from.
