Here’s to hoping that David Beckham is enjoying his first championship with La Liga’s Real Madrid. After 4 years with the Spanish league giants, Beckham leaves on a high note after a tumultuous fourth season with the club. Back in January, he signed a huge $250 million dollar deal with the LA Galaxy after he was told by Real that he was no longer wanted at the club.
In America, Beckham-mania was on. He has been touted as both the savior of the Galaxy and MLS. However, both of these ideas are false.
Once Beckham gets to America, true soccer fans will still be in awe of his ability to cross the ball, his crisp passing, and his excellent free kicks. But to the average viewer, Beckham could just look like another one of those players who isn’t doing anything.
David Beckham is still a world class player, but in a country where more people vote for the next American Idol than for their own President, his celebrity status may end up being his greatest downfall in the long run. The majority of his record contract is advertisement based, and that in itself is the problem.
Beckham should not be a walking billboard. He is a soccer player, and he is here to compete and win with the Galaxy. He hopes to continue to play at a high level, so he can continue playing with the English National Team. Nobody will disagree with the statement that to a certain extent, Beckham probably loves his celebrity status, but he is here to help raise the level of play in MLS and in turn, its level of respect around the world. But chances are, this will not happen.
It is a shame that while he is loved in England for his skills on the pitch, he will be loved in America not for those skills, but for his commercial plugs and his appearances in your local supermarket tabloids. Hopefully this is wrong, but when Paris Hilton’s trial and sentencing is the top story of the day, one can only assume the worst.
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