David Beckham: Milan Move is About Football

There have been suggestions that a big reason David Beckham wants to stay in Milan and join the AC Milan permanently is because of money. Today, David sat down with Corriere dello Sport, an Italian sports news site, and said that that is absolutely not the case. The only reason David wants to stay is because he wants to participate in the highest caliber football available in order to best prepare himself for another shot at the World Cup in 2010 with England.

“At the moment Milan is more important than money. I want to think about football before everything else. I said in a clear manner what I think, I want to stay at Milan because I’ve rediscovered myself as a football player,” David said. “The immediate aim is to stay here in Milan and play at the highest level possible. This would give me the best possibility of securing a place with the England national team.”

While David has been open about his desire to stay since publicly announcing it on Wednesday and AC Milan has been open about their desire to keep David since the moment he showed up, the Los Angeles Galaxy is remaining very tight-lipped about the whole situation. As I write this, David’s lawyers are sitting down with the Galaxy to see if any deal can be worked out.

When asked about what the Galaxy will do, coach Bruce Arena had this to say: “We are going to do in the end whatever is best for the Galaxy. There is always a contingency plan for everything.”

While it would be a huge blow to the team – who got tons of press and media attention for bringing David to the MLS – wouldn’t it be worse in the long-term if the team kept a player that made it very clear he wants out? What would that do to team spirit and to David’s dedication and productivity?

Image: Newscom