Due to an increasingly obvious desire to once again saunter amidst the vivid hum of Premier League life, David Beckham (along with the legal suits at Tottenham Hotspur) is currently beavering away, exploring all the channels available to him in his joint bid to turn a brief training excursion/flagrant PR exercise into a full-bodied loan move.
Beckham was officially given the go-ahead to start training with the Tottenham first string after making it through a bout of routine fitness tests at the club’s Spurs Lodge training ground in Essex on Monday morning – though it seems that the LA Galaxy veteran is not content with his current lot, and will continue in his attempts to engineer a deal that will allow his to partake in first-team duties should he be required to.
Negotiations between Tottenham and the Galaxy are ongoing, with three distinct sticking points thought to be repeatedly coming to the fore.
Firstly comes the question of insurance, with the MLS side understandably keen to ensure that their $250 million investment doesn’t do himself a mischief akin to the ruptured Achilles that he suffered whilst on loan at AC Milan last season – an injury which duly forced Beckham to miss out on being held directly culpable for England’s World Cup dirge, lucky sod.
Secondly, the Galaxy execs have told Spurs that Beckham is to return to Los Angeles by 10th February – thus giving him plenty of time to reintegrate into their squad in time for their first game of the season against the Seattle Sounders on 15th March – though the Premier League side are hoping to persuade their American counterparts into letting them borrow their prize-asset for a few weeks longer.
Thirdly is the complicated nature of his £160 million (approx.) contract that Beckham has with the Galaxy, which is stuffed to the hilt with various top-ups, revenue percentage agreements and image rights stipulations – though it’s though that he is perfectly willing to waiver certain payments in order to smooth over any cracks that may occur.
As is, there is no official deal in place, meaning Beckham is free to come and go as he pleases, though Spurs manager Harry Redknapp hasn’t given up hope of coercing Galaxy into allowing the 35-year-old midfielder to pull on the famous Lilywhite shirt in anger (so to speak) at some point during the coming weeks:
“It’s great to have him here. We worked hard to get him here hoping that he could come and play.”
No-one could have worked harder than Daniel Levy, the chairman. They grafted away trying to get a deal done where he could play for us. It’s a bit complicated but you never know. We’ll see how it goes.
[The Spurs board] work on that side of it. I’ve got the easy part. I just identify people, say ‘I’d like to get David – I think he’d be good for us’. It’s up to them. They do the hard work and put the deals on.”
Redknapp was also full of praise for Beckham, praising his fitness levels despite being firmly fit for the knacker’s yard in footballing terms – though the Spurs boss once again insisted that it is still unclear as to whether the former England captain will be made available to him in terms of selection:
“[Beckham’s] a fit lad, he looks like he’s in great condition, looks like he looks after himself.
He’s a model professional so that won’t be a problem. Whether a deal will be possible to pull off, I’m not sure.”
An intriguing sideline to the whole debacle is that, should Tottenham be able to tie up a deal by the weekend, Beckham could be in line to make his debut against his former club Manchester United (i.e. the only Premier League club he’d ever entertain thoughts of playing for again) at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
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