What started out as a rumor has now become a real deal — David Beckham has officially signed on to join the AC Milan fútbol club to play professional soccer for the Italian team. BUT, because Becks is well-under contract with the LA Galaxy here in the US, his contract with AC Milan is a temporary one. Becks will play in Italy for 2 months, during the MLS soccer off-season, and will return to play for the Galaxy once the MLS season starts up again in March. Here is the official announcement that was made on DavidBeckham.com and a report from the LA Times:

From DavidBeckham.com: David’s loan move to AC Milan is now official and the LA Galaxy captain will join the Italian club in January. Earlier, AC Milan and LA Galaxy released a joint statement, with the following: An agreement has been reached between the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan for the loan of David Beckham effective in January, 2009. David Beckham remains under contract to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer and will return to the club for training and the start of the 2009 MLS season. AC Milan and the Los Angeles Galaxy have additionally agreed to a technical partnership that will provide great benefit to the L.A. Galaxy.

From the LA Times: David Beckham’s move from the Galaxy to AC Milan was finalized Thursday, with the England national team midfielder set to join the Italian club on loan for January and February. The exact starting and ending dates of the loan were left unclear, however, as were most other pertinent details. For example, neither club would reveal who would pay Beckham’s $541,667-a-month salary during his absence from Los Angeles. Nor would they comment on the specifics of “a technical partnership” being formed between the Galaxy and AC Milan, or whether the Galaxy would financially benefit from lending its top player. “Terms of the agreement will remain confidential,” said a joint statement issued by the Major League Soccer and Serie A teams. According to AC Milan’s website: “The English player will be a Rossonero (red and black) from Jan. 7, 2009.” But the Associated Press reported that Beckham would undergo a physical in Milan on Dec. 20 — two weeks after he plays for the Galaxy in a friendly match in New Zealand — and would be introduced the next day, when his Italian jersey number would be unveiled. Bruce Arena, the Galaxy’s general manager and coach, was unable to shed much light on Beckham’s travels. “He’s going to be back in March, and we believe it’s right around March 1, and he will be available for our opening game,” Arena said. “I haven’t seen the exact details of the loan agreement yet . . . but we fully anticipate that this loan is for approximately two months. There’s a possibility he could go in December.” The Galaxy’s 2009 schedule has yet to be released because MLS will not decide until next month on whether to start the season earlier. A league spokesman said Thursday that it would start “sometime between March 14 and 28.” Beckham initiated the loan move because he wants to extend his England national team career, and England has a friendly game against Slovakia in London on March 28, three days before it plays a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on April 1, also at Wembley. If called up by England Coach Fabio Capello, Beckham would thus be making at least three transatlantic trips within the first few weeks of the MLS season.

You know, this sounds about as good a compromise as any. It makes sense that Becks would want to stay in shape for the 2 months that the MLS soccer season is on hiatus. Personally, I think AC Milan is lucky to have him on their squad for any length of time. As long as Becks is back in the US to play for the Galaxy (who shelled out a lot of money for the privilege) then I don’t see why he shouldn’t be allowed to play for Italy. Becks also updated his official blog with a new post about his loan-out to AC Milan (the post was written before the deal was signed). After the jump, read the text of his latest post in full …

Hello everybody,

David

While I’m still not convinced that David Beckham is the author of his blog posts, I kinda like the image of him sitting at a computer typing up his various treatises. But I digress … it’s clear that David Beckham wanted this loan-out deal from the start. As the LA Times reported earlier, it really sounds like negotiations began between Becks and AC Milan well before the LA Galaxy were even clued in. As I said before, what Becks wants, Becks gets. Fortunately, this deal works out best for everyone. I hope y’all Italians will take good care of our dear Becks for the time that you have him ;) Enjoy!!

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