Beckham bid ACCEPTED

I'm not sure if Man Utd aren't playing some incredibly risky PR game here.

They know he's not going to Barca so they 'accept' a bid - if other situations are fulfilled.
They won't be and Beckham stays put. But all it needs is a small spanner thrown unexpectedly in the works, to upset those best laid plans - leaving Utd with promises they have to keep. That'd be funny.

 

I suspect it's a ploy by Ferguson to keep the price up. I read the Laporta offer is 30 million with a further 10 million on certain success criteria being met. That's a lot of money. However it's clear that Beckham isn't keen on Barca but would go to Real. With the Barca deal on the table it would force Real to come up with something similar.

But if Real is the only club interested then the price offered will be much lower.

I think it's all part of forcing the price high. Clubs now know Beckham is for sale and it doesn't do any harm if there's a big offer already on the table even if it's unlikely to go all the way. It's sets the price for further offers to meet.

Of course admitting that the deal is fact and acceptable may well help Laporta over the line in the election and push it all further along.

 

Becks aint going to Barca .He says he wont be used as a political pawn in the Barca presidents election.
A move to barca is asking for trouble IMHO..
An underachieving club with demanding fans..

He should stay at Man Utd.

 

Yeah, but they don't want him.

 

If Beckham could get over his image for a minute, he might see advantages in going to Barcelona.

Having just come off a bad season, if he went there and they got a Champions League spot next year or even won the league, he'd be seen as a saviour. They've got loads of talented players and it's almost certain they'll be back fighting at the top of the league next term.

Not playing in the Champions League this year would allow him to rest when those games are going on, keeping him fresh for next summer's European Championships, should England make it. At 28, he's not going to have too many more gos at winning a major tournament with the national team.

He'd probably be able to double his wages. And negotiate a good deal on his image rights into the bargain.

He might even be able to persuade the coach to play him in his favoured central midfield role. With Overmars out on the right, they might see him as a good player to have in the centre.

 

True enough, but a move at 28 has to be up, not down. And slice it or dice it, a move to Barca from United is down. Irrespective of their performance in this most recent season.

I think it is unfair to say "if Beckham could get over his image for a minute". I doubt it is his undeniably acute perception of self alone that makes the prospect of playing for, say, Real Madrid or AC Milan more attractive than slogging it out in a dispirited team packed to the rafters with talented wasters. Remember - he has spent his entire career in the demonically driven environs of Manchester United. How he could transpose himself into the listless artifice of the Nou Camp's current gang is surely a question he sees no answer to.

As to wages and image rights, where ever he goes he will improve substantially on his current £100,000 a week. So money is hardly the main issue in making this decision. Key to this is the fact that this next move takes up the three or four years he has at the very peak of his career. He is 28, this is the peak. Moving to Barca would be a dreadful waste.

 

Manchester United would be very stupid not to unload Beckham now, when they can still get £30m + for his services. He's already peaked as a player and even waiting one extra year to unload him will reduce his price tag by at least £10m. Waiting two years would round out the remainder of Beckham's contract and allow him to leave on a Bosman free transfer. As for saving him for the USA tour, well at this point it doesn't even matter because the games are all sell-outs, so he doesn't even have to be there. Face it, he isn't getting any better, there are players who are much younger and better who are available for half of what Beckham is. If I was Peter Kenyon, I would get rid of him as soon as possible.

 

Them’s big words. Beckham can still improve his game - and will, irrespective of where he plies his trade. A move into central midfield will eventually happen and that will encourage dimensions to his game that he has yet to fully utilise. Equally, a move to La Liga will inevitably make him a better player. To say he has peaked is premature. Age is also not a consideration - he’s 28. That’s nothing for a midfielder, especially one who has diligently looked after himself from the word go. He could play for another 10 years, and most of those at the top of his profession.

As to the commercial wisdom of selling him, well that is more or less a given. Transfer fees have peaked and are markedly receding, whilst top clubs will still pay large sums (around the £30m mark), the number of clubs who can do so has shrunk to maybe five or six. The days of a PSG or a Real Betis splashing out in excess of £20m on one player are well and truly over. So if you can sell a prize asset that has perhaps become expendable (as Beckham, to some extent, has at United) for a sum near the £30m mark, then it makes sense to sell, no matter who it is. With £30m, Ferguson will be able to buy all the summer targets he has identified as key to his next campaign. That immediately puts him in the driving seat for next season, given that his closest rivals will not be able to match that sort of reinforcement.

But on a wider note, it is amusing to see that United are still the most cack-handed bunch of muppets when it comes to PR. Maybe they should spend some of the Beckham cash on a PR professional and let whatever mouthbreather they have running that side of things at the moment go on a free, eh? They could not have made a bigger hash of this “transfer to Barca” saga if they had tried.

And let’s not even mention the word “class”. Redundant in any context involving United.

 

I agree about the beckham transfer.
however the last part .... sheez. clark= the BS decider on issues relating to class. don't make me laugh.

 

Are you disputing the fact that United agreeing to sell Beckham without informing him - to a person as yet unconnected with the football club to whom they intend to sell him and to which Beckham is highly unlikely to want to move shows United's customary lack of class?

Besides, class is adjudged not by me as a BS poster, but as a Liverpool fan. We have more experience of such things than any other club in Britain.

 

Fixed your post.

 

No heart.

 

It's all becoming rather ridiculous isn't it? Here's an amusing take on it all from an unlikely source:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,975494,00.html

 

The Barca vote is happening today and we should have the result by late tonight.

It appears LaPorta is doing rather well.

 

Laporta not only won he walked it with the biggest vote ever won by a candidate in a Barca election according to the reports!

I suspect that was Utd's reason for unusually admitting an offer from Laporta before the election - to help him win. Because now there's a definite offer on the table for Beckham and Real (or whoever) will have to match or better it if they really want him. The auction is on.

 

bye bye Becks

I've said it once and i'll say it again, David will more than likely head towards madrid than barcelona. Just look at what both teams offer. In Barca, obviously the team would be structured around him and he would have a chance to improve his play and perhaps lead Barca to the team of past years,but, Madrid offers Beckham the chance to be a winner of enormous proportions and be surrounded with the biggest names in the sport. If you want a CL ring come to Madrid that's the way i see it. Hala Madrid!