Just heard on UK's Radio Five Live that Real Madrid have issued a formal statement saying that not only have they not approached Beckham, they have no intention of so doing. Interesting. Link to the official Real site (in Spanish): http://www.realmadrid.com/web_realmadrid/templates/prehome/noticia.htm Link to Ananova story: http://www.ananova.com/sport/story/sm_775500.html
Yes, Real have denied things in the past only turn turn around days later and sign the player (hello Ronaldo). Beckham has been carefull not to deny the possible move - any denial would undoubtably hurt him sponsorship wise if the rumors turned out to be true. Real would not suffer the same fate - their fans, and the media would not care one once, they'd be too busy taking photo's of Beckham in his new kit. $30Mil ? $40Mil and a player...? Manchester will probably make a deal. Beckham is a great crosser of the ball, and his set pieces are amoung the best, but he has no pace, can't tackle, and looks lost when his team is defending. With $30 Manchester could easily afford 3-4 top players in this market - Nedved, Kluivert, Laudrup.... The only question United has to ask, is whether the so-called "Becks Appeal" is too much of a gain to their marketing endevours to loose. The Loon
What are you on about? Have you ever seen David Beckham play? One of the things he does very well is tracking back and defending. If you substitute Beckham's name for Figo then your statement would be far more accurate. Kluivert? You have to be kidding me.
If I was in charge of Madrid i would be looking to sign a top class central defender ,a defensive central midfielder and another centre midfield player with defensive qualities... Lucio for defence Davids for the defensive mid role ballack for the other role.. That really would be a dream team if they got those players.. Becks should stay at Man U IMHO.
It is quite widely accepted that Beckham would struggle with the Spanish game, not to mention Real's. The fact that his wife rather idiotically noted "I couldn't possibly comment" and then nodded her head vigorously to questions on whether Beckham was destined for Italy or for Spain is more amusing than a real indicator of Beckham's future move. Real did not, afaik, issue a press release on Ronaldo though they did emphatically deny they were about to sign him - and prompty did so. No player should ever be larger than their team. Man Utd can certainly cope with life after Beckham. The question is, would Beckham be able to cope with life after Man Utd ?
I’m not sure it is “widely accepted” that he would struggle with the Spanish game, or indeed the Real Madrid game. It is widely posited that he might and it is also widely opined that he would spend more time on the bench at Real Madrid than he currently does at Manchester United. And both of those viewpoints are entirely defensible, insomuch as they apply to more or less any footballer in the world. Ask the Meringues what their opinion of Ronaldo is, as I did when in Madrid just the other week and most will give a “Jury’s still out” reply. Likewise, there were significant numbers of the Madrid fanbase that viewed Zidane with nothing short of outright suspicion, right up until THAT goal at Hampden Park last season. As to Posh Spice, I wouldn’t pay any heed to her actions - her widely reported flirt with Anorexia has long been known to have gone further than just that in between her ears. In terms of his profile, there is no doubt that, saving the sort of coming-of-age on the pitch for Real Madrid that people used to write comic books about, his profile would diminish if he were to become just one more in a whole galaxy of stars at Real Madrid. But if he played well enough and often enough to retain the captaincy of England, then sponsors would continue to fawn at his feet, even if, as would be entirely probable, he spent time out of the limelight - relatively speaking - at Real Madrid.
Actually, in terms of Beckham's career I think a move to Real would be a good one. The Spanish game is very different to the English one, but it does not mean that Beckham would fail miserably at it, just that as a footballer he would certainly have to develop another approach to the great game. As for sitting on the bench, well - given that he took so much offence during the last Champion's League match, I would suspect that any move - be it to Real, another Spanish team, an Italian team or even the oft-speculated move to the MLS (hmmm) - would be one where he managed to retain a first team place. After all, for a £30-40m price tag, would you expect anything less ?
It's a no win situation for Beckham in that the arguments can range from: He wasn't good enough for Madrid anyways. They only wanted to sign him for marketing. United only wants to keep him for the marketing. He couldn't play well anywhere else. He's only going to do what Posh wants. He's only moving over a rift with Sir Alex. Nothing actually FOOTBALL related.