Two Views on Beckham on Loan to Milan

The latest rumor coming from the AC Milan camp is that David Beckham will be coming to Milan on loan in January — not just to train with the club, but to play with them competitively for several months. There are some rumors that Milan would like to make this a permanent move.

So what is this? A shrewd (and temporary) way to stoke the Beckham flame again? Or an admission of failure? Or bits of both?

Two views:

David Beckham joining AC Milan on loan is a win-win-win situation. David Beckham wins because he gets to play in a big European league again, if only for a short time. Assuming Beckham does OK (and his set pieces alone should guarantee some sort of impact) it’s a chance for him to prove he can still do the business, as well as prove to Fabio Capello that he’s still worth his place in the England squad.

AC Milan wins because the club gets a quality (if no longer top quality) footballer on loan for free. The club will probably make a tidy profit on shirt sales by signing a superstar, but Carlo Ancelotti won’t be under pressure to start Beckham if he doesn’t feel it’s necessary. As Beckham’s proved with England, his temperament and impact from the bench (again, set pieces) make him a very useful squad player. Finally, LA Galaxy and MLS win. You’d think these are the two organizations with the most to lose, but (provided Becks doesn’t get injured) they have plenty to gain. And it’s mostly to do with Beckham’s reputation. The shine has dulled a little now that Goldenballs has settled LA, and the idea of Beckham being semi-retired in California doesn’t help MLS’s reputation at all. But seeing Beckham in Serie A will re-invigorate the footballing department of Brand Beckham (which is still the most important part, whatever anyone says). And a stronger Brand Beckham means a stronger Brand MLS when he plays in the league.

The MLS DP Experiment Crashes and Burns
Remember, about year and a half ago, when David Beckham was going to save American soccer? It was going to happen. Everybody swore. He would use his skills and celebrity to take the game to the next level, and all we fans had to do was sit back and watch it happen. The rules were changed to bring him in. The salary cap was jettisoned, at least for one player per team. (Or two, if you were the LA Galaxy.) Tournament rules were bent or created on the fly to benefit Becks and Co. And hundreds of thousands of jerseys and seats were sold. MLS was on its way to credibility and legitimacy!
But…not so fast.

The Beckham-to-Milan loan is at heart a recognition that MLS can’t cut it yet. Bringing Beckham to MLS has been a bit like bringing a Ferrari to a city that only has unpaved, potholed roads. How can you take advantage of the power it offers when the infrastructure isn’t there? Start with the salary cap that’s prevented the Galaxy from surrounding Beckham with players who could make the most of his skills. Add in the single entity ownership that made making changes akin to steering the Titanic. Toss in the league’s refusal to recognize that international games exist, let alone that they should break for them…

The league’s reach exceeded its grasp.
And so Milan is standing in the wings, waving provocatively, cooing, “David, they don’t appreciate you. They can’t love you the way we will. Come to us. We’ll treat you right.” (Because all those other past-their-prime superstars — Ronaldo! Shevchenko! Ronaldinho! — haven’t provided quite enough luster or sold quite enough tickets. Maybe Beckham will be the one.) And what about Beckham? Even healthy and fit, he couldn’t guide the Galaxy to the playoffs this year. Yes, appalling management decisions played into it, but in the end Beckham didn’t get the job done. Like the rest of the team, he started strong and flamed out. I suppose we can’t blame him for wanting to go to a solid team in a solid league, to prove that, at 33, he’s still got it.
It’s just that I expected more.