David Beckham has gone on the public record to say that he no longer wants to fulfill his contract with the MLS soccer team the LA Galaxy and would like, instead, to remain in Milan, Italy where he is currently on loan to AC Milan. In new comments published today, Becks has revealed that he no longer wishes to play soccer in the US and would like to remain in Europe after his loan out period to Milan has expired:

David Beckham said he wants to make his move to AC Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy permanent. The England midfielder’s three-month loan to the Italian soccer club ends March 9 and Milan has said it wants to keep him at the San Siro stadium. “I have expressed my desire to stay at AC Milan now and it’s just down to Milan and Galaxy to come to an agreement,” Beckham said in comments broadcast by Sky Sports. “I have enjoyed my time here. I knew I would enjoy it, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much and do as well as I have.” The 33-year-old player joined Milan last month to stay in shape during the U.S. soccer offseason. He’s scored two goals in five appearances for the team known as the Rossoneri. The Major League Soccer season begins on March 22. “At the moment I’m still a Galaxy player,” Beckham said after an exhibition match last night against Glasgow Rangers. “It’s out of my hands. I’ve said what my feelings are to both clubs and now it’s down to them to come to an agreement.” Beckham joined the Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007. He earns $5.5 million a year and the five-year contract could be worth as much as $250 million with endorsements and profit- sharing, according to the Galaxy. Galaxy spokesman Justin Pearson said in a telephone interview that the team was practicing and wouldn’t have any comment until coach and general manager Bruce Arena sees Beckham’s quotes. Andrew Messick, the sports division president of Anschutz Co.’s AEG, which owns the Galaxy, said he has seen Beckham’s comments to European television and declined to comment on them, or whether the club would entertain offers from AC Milan. “He’s a great player and a great ambassador, and someone we’ve had a very, very close relationship with,” Messick said in a telephone interview. “We hope and expect that we’re going to continue to have a great relationship with him.” Milan general manager Adriano Galliani said on the club’s Web site yesterday that Beckham’s lawyers are in talks with the Galaxy over the player’s future. Milan has yet to make an offer or enter into negotiations, he said. “It’s nothing against the MLS and the football over there because it’s a game that will grow, but it will take quite a few years,” Beckham said. The former Manchester United player said he wants to stay in Italy to boost his chances of retaining a place in the national team for next year’s World Cup. Beckham has played 107 times for England, the third-most after Peter Shilton and World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore. “I want to have a chance of being involved in 2010,” Beckham said. “My best chance of doing that is to remain here.”

Firstly, I have to stress that I am still a David Beckham fan and I still absolutely lurve him … BUT, I must express my dissatisfaction at his desire to abandon his commitment to the LA Galaxy for greener pastures in Italy. I seem to recall that when David Beckham came to the US, there weren’t many teams out there who were clamoring to nab him as their own. His lackluster performance on the soccer field in the months leading up to the end of his contract in Spain really didn’t do much to make him a sought after soccer player. So, he and his wife Vicki B. decided to take the massive amounts of money (about $250 million) that the LA Galaxy offered him and committed to playing for the team for a set number of years. Upon his arrival (which was already midway thru an entire MLS soccer season), he sat out more than 60% of the games of his first season due to an ankle injury and never really helped the Galaxy improve their overall game (the LA Galaxy remains one of the most unsuccessful teams in the burgeoning MLS league). Having been loaded out to AC Milan, Becks scores two goals and suddenly he’s decided he wants to join the team. Trust me, I get that he wants to end his career in glory but, to me, it seems like he should’ve taken that into account before he committed to US soccer. I have a feeling that Becks thought that his mere presence alone might make Americans care about soccer … and when that didn’t happen, well, he has apparently decided to go back to Europe again. While I am very disappointed and not very happy with his decision, I completely understand it. The Beckhams really didn’t make the splash in Hollywood that they were prolly hoping for. I guess I get why they would want to retreat back to Europe. While I’m a bit miffed now, I’ll get over it … prolly by the time the next back of Armani Underwear ads come out. I suspect that Becks will get his wish and will become an official, full time member of AC Milan soon. I guess it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to revive his glory days after all.

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David Beckham and the LA Galaxy played their last game of the MLS soccer season yesterday in Carson, CA and altho the match ended in a 2-2 tie with FC Dallas, Becks and the boys were in a celebratory mood … well, mebbe Becks was more celebratory than the rest of the Galaxy squad but, nonetheless, everyone seemed happy. The good news is that Becks put minds at ease by promising that his future lies with the LA Galaxy (er, the future duration of his multi-million dollar contract, that is) but at a press conference with reporters confirmed his desire to make the temporary move to Italy to play for AC Milan there during the MLS off-season. Here are pics of Becks at yesterday’s game and an update on his career plans:

David Beckham insists he will stay with the Los Angeles Galaxy regardless of any possible loan to Italian power AC Milan. “At the end of the day, my commitment is still to the Galaxy and that’s not changed,” Beckham said after training Saturday. “But I’ve been given a chance to join up with one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I’m going to do that. “The Galaxy are not against it. They’ve made that clear. They said that if I want to do that, then they’re prepared to let me go there on loan until our season.” AC Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani said last week he wants to bring Beckham to Italy on a loan and possibly sign him. If the loan takes place, Beckham would arrive in January. “At the end of the day, it’s looking like it could happen,” Beckham said. “Hopefully, it will be finalized in the next week or two.” Major League Soccer Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis said Thursday that the loan would be approved only if it “makes sense” for the Galaxy and Beckham, who signed a five-year contract worth $250 million in January 2007. One issue concerns whether Beckham will return to Los Angeles for the Galaxy’s preseason in March or for the first regular-season game. “At the moment, it’s not even certain yet,” Beckham said of the loan. “We’re still talking to Milan. It’s (for) a two-month spell, maybe a little bit longer.” Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, who has talked about possibly playing in Europe after this season, criticized the timing of Beckham’s pursuit of a loan agreement. “Candidly, yes,” Donovan said when asked if the timing bothered him. “It doesn’t make anything better and it doesn’t worsen anything. But it would have been nice to wait. I’m waiting until after Sunday to see what happens.” … Beckham, 33, has said he wants to play for England in the 2010 World Cup. But England coach Fabio Capello said he would consider the midfielder for future qualifying games only if he trains consistently and plays at a high level. “Footballers don’t have four months off in any league in the world, apart from here,” Beckham said of MLS’s offseason. “My body is programmed not to have so much time off. I need to play.”

I understand that Italian news reports for the past week have been that the deal was done and that Becks WOULD be coming to play for AC Milan in January. You may recall that the LA Times revealed last week that when this new “loan out” report was making the rounds, the brass at the LA Galaxy had no idea what was going on. It really does sound like Becks may have been working out this deal on his own without cluing in the Galaxy. Something tells me what David Beckham wants, David Beckham gets. He’ll, most likely, be spending the first months of January as an AC Milan fútboler.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Yesterday we got the first wind of the rumored report that David Beckham might be playing professionally for the AC Milan soccer team for four months next year during the US soccer off-season. It was reported that Italy was eager to have him and Becks was considering the proposition. But today, the LA Times reveals that in the melee of this furious sports story, the LA Galaxy was not even aware of what was going on. The paper suggests that all this talk of the Galaxy loaning out Becks to AC Milan was going on without anyone cluing in the management team of the LA Galaxy. Additionally, the Times piece argues that Becks should not be loaned out to the Italian team but should instead sever his ties with the LA Galaxy and move back to Europe permanently for the good of both the Galaxy and David Beckham. Here are a few pics of Becks and his most recent Galaxy training session in Carson, CA this week:

If David Beckham wants to play for England at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa he needs to leave Major League Soccer right now. Not on loan, not for just a short training spell with AC Milan or any other European club that comes calling, but for good — his own good and that of the Galaxy. Ever since AEG sounded the trumpets in January 2007 and announced amid much boasting and fanfare that it had signed Beckham, the Galaxy has been nothing but a puppet in the hands of Beckham’s management team. Just how emasculated the club is when it comes to Beckham was again clearly in evidence Wednesday. Stories were pouring out of Europe that AC Milan was close to signing the 33-year-old midfielder to a short-term loan deal during the MLS off-season. “We are speaking with his agent, but we believe he will arrive for some months on a free loan,” said Adriano Galliani, AC Milan’s vice president. “Beckham has chosen Milan. Our squad is ultra-competitive and it will remain this way, but Beckham is something different and intriguing.” Media reports across the continent were feverishly speculating on whether this could turn into a full-fledged trade, with Beckham returning triumphant to take his place again among the game’s elite players in Europe and abandon the experiment of trying to turn MLS from a soccer backwater into a soccer hotbed. Big-name players and coaches were quoted. Pundits rushed to get their opinions onto the Internet, on the air and into print. And the Galaxy? The Galaxy had no idea what was happening. Beckham opted not to be available to reporters after the team’s training session Wednesday in Carson, and no Galaxy official had the clout or the guts to make him face the media. The front office never even issued a news release. Bruce Arena, who wears two hats as the Galaxy’s coach and general manager, appeared bemused by it all. “I’ve spent not a second of my day even thinking about it, to be honest,” Arena said. “On the surface, it sounds like an odd proposition. I don’t see where that benefits MLS or the Galaxy. I don’t know if there’s anything true in the rumor.” Arena says that as far as he understands soccer’s rules, a player loan has to cover the entire period between two transfer windows, in this case from January to June, meaning that Beckham would miss the first three months of the 2009 MLS season. “The first I heard about it was today . . . but I would think [given] the position the Galaxy is in and [the fact that] we’re rebuilding our team and trying to have a successful year, it would seem very odd to me if we were loaning out our top players at the start of the season. It would seem pretty odd to me to operate that way.” … The only word from the Beckham camp came from Simon Oliveira of 19 Entertainment. “David’s intention is to maintain his fitness and keep himself eligible for England selection,” Oliveira said. “He very much remains a Galaxy player and he would be in Los Angeles for the start of the 2009 MLS season.” … Said AC Milan Coach Carlo Ancelotti: “For me, it will be a pleasure. Beckham is a serious athlete, a great professional.” … Beckham has long insisted that he wants to take part in the World Cup in South Africa and will do whatever is necessary to be on the England team. To do so, he has to prove that he still has what it takes at the highest level. That’s why a permanent move to AC Milan, if it can be accomplished, is in his best interests. As for the Galaxy, the Beckham circus could fold its tents and then the club could go back to being what it once was — competitive in MLS.

There appears to be a bitter tone to this LA Times piece … but considering that neither Beckham nor the Milan team actually denied anything seems telling. In the end, tho, the LA Galaxy does have Becks tied up in an iron-clad contract … one that they paid a lot of money for. I don’t think that they are interested in losing out on that investment. Whether that means they would not be amenable to the loan is another story altogether. While I can understand how David Beckham may want to prolong his professional soccer career in Europe, I don’t really understand why he would sign a multiyear, very lucrative contract with a US team and expect to still be able to play on European teams whenever he likes. At this point, the whole story is just rumor and conjecture. My guess is that if Becks is loaned out to Italy he will have to be back by the start of next year’s MLS season — or the loan deal won’t happen. If the LA Galaxy, who paid out all those megamillions, is stupid enough to loan out their star player at the cost of him missing out 3 months of US play then they are really very stupid, IMHO. There’s a lot of talk going on right now … we’ll have to see if any of it actually comes to mean anything.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

David Beckham and the LA Galaxy battled the NY Red Bulls at Giants Stadium this past Saturday and altho the match ended in a 2-2 draw, Becks did everything humanly possible to make sure that a great and entertaining time was had by all. Here are a few pics of Becks warming up and in action on Saturday afternoon:

Los Angeles Galaxy captain David Beckham was pleased with the resolve his Major League Soccer side showed in battling back to a 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls Saturday. Landon Donovan salvaged a point for the Galaxy at Giants Stadium, his cross in injury time floating over the heads of numerous players, including Galaxy teammate Edson Buddle’s, and into the far corner of the goal … Until then the Red Bulls appeared poised to steal the show from superstar Beckham and the Galaxy. The hosts had taken a 2-1 lead on a superb second-half goal from captain Juan Pablo Angel gave the home side a 2-1 lead. Beckham was pleased his team fought until the end, and were rewarded with the draw. “There were chances for both teams but we showed a lot of character,” Beckham said. “We were disappointed to go in 1-1 at halftime because they scored through our sloppy play. Then we came out second half, they got a goal but we kept on battling and we didn’t look as if we were going to get a goal but we did in the end. It showed the character in the team, especially when we’re not playing as well as we can, to come back. So overall, maybe a draw was fair tonight.” The match drew a MLS season-high 46,754 fans.

I love how soccer is one of the only major league sports where a tie is not only possible but can also be celebrated. It’s a nice thing when everyone is a winner! But, you know what else can be celebrated? The after-game entertainment. After the jump, check out a few fun pics of a shirtless David Beckham as he walked off the field at the game’s completion …

For the second time since joining the ranks of the LA Galaxy, David Beckham and his Galaxy teammates traveled to Washington DC to battle DC United only to return home in defeat. While the score was much closer last year (DC 1, LA 0), the Galaxy were handily defeated this time around with a final score of 4-1. Overall, David Beckham did his best to try and pull out a win … he kicked some balls, he ran around the field, etc. but couldn’t quite pull it together. He did find the time to grab his biz and strip off his shirt at the end of the game, tho, so it wasn’t a total wash. Here are a couple pics of Becks‘s arrival in DC early this weekend:

An adoring fan gave Becks that lovely yellow rose in his hand and he was very kind enough to oblige various fans with photos and autographs. Here are a few pics of Becks in action on the field this weekend despite his team’s loss … I do love how “in action” included grabbin’ his junk:

Once again, D.C. United stole the spotlight from the Los Angeles Galaxy. Last year in RFK Stadium, United held on for a 1-0 win when David Beckham made his long-awaited Major League Soccer debut. This year, as part of a national broadcast doubleheader with the Euro 2008 final, the Galaxy wilted in the heat as United’s stars – Marcelo Gallardo, Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno – made the ABC showcase their own with a 4-1 win. For United’s Clyde Simms, the TV time was a means to an end for a team that has few league games next month. “It helps send a message to the other teams that we’re playing better soccer,” Simms said. Beckham and fellow Galaxy star Landon Donovan created good chances at times and combined on the game’s best sequence, with Donovan one-timing the ball in the net on an incisive near-post pass from Beckham. But in a clear sign that this day would not be the Galaxy’s, the goal was nullified on a close offside call. The crowd of 35,979 heckled Beckham and Donovan, saving the loudest roar of the game for the late appearance of Ben Olsen, the United captain who has been battling career-threatening ankle injuries. The Barra Brava supporters group held several banners in tribute to Olsen at kickoff. Both teams’ offenses have been much better than their defenses this year, and a defensive blunder helped United take an early lead. Galaxy defender Ante Jazic clumsily barged into former teammate Santino Quaranta from behind in the penalty box. Moreno, MLS’ all-time leading scorer, calmly slotted home the penalty kick. United continued to press the game. A few minutes later, goalkeeper Steve Cronin came up big as Emilio timed a run to perfection and had a clean shot at the Galaxy goal. Beckham objected to a Moreno foul early in the half, drawing profane chants from the D.C. supporter groups. He put several dangerous passes forward in search of Edson Buddle, but the United defense cleared the danger … As they did last year, D.C. United fans took advantage of the spotlight to rev up the enthusiasm for their own team. A couple of signs were playful jabs at Beckham, including a “Shouldn’t you be in Austria?” banner, referring to the Euro 2008 tournament for which England did not qualify. An English flag in the upper level had “D.C. United” written across the middle. On United’s bench was Quavas Kirk. Last year, when Kirk was with the Galaxy, he was the player Beckham replaced as the crowd erupted for the megastar’s MLS debut.

Whoa! Who knew that we had bona fide soccer hooligans here in the US? It’s about time that American soccer fans started taking the sport seriously … now if only Becks and the Galaxy boys would start taking the sport seriously as well, they’d be all set ;) After the jump, a few photos of shirtless Becks walking off the field in defeat …

Our boy David Beckham has been known to inspire love and devotion from hordes of people, both men and women, the world over and is generally not all that surprised when he ventures out in public when he is accosted or surrounded by his legions of fans. There ain’t much that fans can do to shock our dear Becks … that is until he took to the field at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA this weekend as the LA Galaxy took on the Colorado Rapids in gameplay. An overzealous fan ran into the field to show Becks how much he loves him … and then was immediately given the smack-down by LA Galaxy player Chris Klein … here are a few pics of the lurvefest:

David Beckham received a new first in his playing career today when a ‘love struck’ male fan ran onto the field to hug and high-five him, as his LA Galaxy side clung to a 3-2 lead over the Colorado Rapids in America’s Major League Soccer. A shocked Beckham looked on as the fan was knocked down by Galaxy teammate Chris Klein and then pinned by one of Beckham’s suited security men. But ever the gentleman, after realizing he was in no danger, Beckham helped pull the fan to his feet before the youngster was taken away. “I was slightly concerned when I first saw him running at me because he didn’t have a smile on his face and he didn’t have a Galaxy shirt on,” Beckham told the LA Times website. “So I didn’t know if he was going to come and give me a hug or something else. These things happen in games all over the world. Luckily, he just wanted to give me a high five and that was the end of it.”Awww … what a good sport. Becks is a sweetie even when he’s not sure if he’s about to be accosted by an unknown assailant. Good for him. Pics not enough? Click HERE to watch the video. [Source, Source]In related news, the littlest Beckham, Cruz, showed up at the Galaxy vs. Rapids game over the weekend showing off a few new tattoos … just like his daddy: Aww … so cute. You know, it won’t be long before these pretend tattoos become real tattoos. Something tells me that the Beckham boys are prolly gonna follow in their father’s body modification footsteps very early on … surely to the chagrin of their parents. Cruz would look ace with a full back tattoo, no? [Source]