Beckham's AC Milan loan a logical step for player, club and country

By Paddy Agnew, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

David Beckham will try to crack a Milan lineup that already includes (inset, left to right) stars Kaká, Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato. AP; New Press/Getty Images

Beckham-mania is about to strike in Italy. By the end of the year, the world's most hyped footballer will have teamed up with AC Milan on a three-month loan from his MLS club, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Given Milan's impressive and long-established ability to combine image, marketing and good soccer, a link-up with David Beckham hardly comes as a total surprise. Indeed, a couple of seasons back, when he was at the height of his footballing powers, such a move was often touted.

To many, it seemed only logical that Beckham would join a p.r.-oriented club that just happens to be owned by media mogul and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose Mediaset television empire just might be able to find a job for Beckham's famous wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Adams.

If no one would have been much surprised about such a move a few seasons back, there is clearly a huge sense of intrigue and curiosity about the move now. It's one thing to be buying a player like Beckham at his very best, and to have him 100 percent at your disposal. It's quite another to be taking a three-month loan of a now 33-year-old after he has spent 18 months rusting up in the graveyard of forgotten genius that is Major League Soccer.

The point about this move, however, is that it was Beckham who went looking for Milan -- not vice versa. Clearly, England manager Fabio Capello was a key figure in the Milan-Beckham deal. When the Beckham entourage contacted Milan (after failing to arouse much interest with a small number of English Premier League clubs), the Italian club got in contact with its former coach, a man who, after all, won four Serie A titles and one Champions League trophy for it in the early 1990s.

Don't worry, came the response from Capello, you should take him; you're getting not just a marketing phenomenon but also a good player. An indication of Capello's assessment of Beckham came towards the end of October when, via a TV link-up, he made the following contribution to the World Business Forum in Milan: "When I coached him at Madrid, I dropped him from the team because he had signed for the L.A. Galaxy but he kept turning up at training and so I put him back in the team. He's a very serious guy, a real professional and the things that people say about his behavior off the field, that he's a messer and philanderer, are just not true."

Capello obviously believes that Beckham can still be useful to the England cause on the road to South Africa. Whether this means that Capello intends to make him an automatic first-choice when England (as surely it will) gets to the next World Cup is, of course, another matter.

What is no secret, however, is that Capello told Beckham that if he wanted to be considered for England games next year, starting with a friendly in Spain on Feb. 11, he would have to be playing club soccer somewhere rather than sitting out the MLS offseason. Hence, the rush for Beckham to find a top-level club in Europe and hence, too, Capello's strong recommendation to Milan.

The Beckham loan formally begins on Jan. 7. In practical terms, Milan expects him to be available by the end of December, ready to join the club in Dubai, where it has a short post-Christmas training camp, with one friendly included. After that, Beckham will be available for 10 Serie A games and two rounds of the UEFA Cup.

Many commentators have speculated that he could immediately slip into the deep-lying playmaker role normally filled by Andrea Pirlo, currently out injured. Coach Carlo Ancelotti does not dismiss the possibility, saying: "He can play in the center or on the flank. He's a good player, so why shouldn't he try to cover Pirlo's role?"

Asked how he viewed his new signing, Ancelotti gave what sounded suspiciously like a good company man's reply: "He's going to bring us a lot of excitement because he's a great player and a good professional. Even if he will only be with us for a short time, his quality could be very useful. He won't have any difficulties fitting in, football is a universal language and we're glad to see him here.

"We would have had him with us anyway, just for training but the fact the he can now play for us can hardly be bad for Milan. We won't treat him as a tourist but rather as a player, in every sense. Maybe we'll be more useful to him than he to us because we're keeping him fit, but maybe he will do a job for us, too, even if only in one game, and that will be a real plus."

Ancelotti did go on record to say he would much prefer that Beckham stay longer. That, at least for now, seems highly unlikely given that Beckham is determined to honor his $6.5 million annual contract with the Galaxy and will return to the U.S. in early March in time for the start of the new MLS season.

One suspects that, in the meantime, Milan managing director Adriano Galliani has been telling Ancelotti not to go looking a gift horse in the mouth, given that Milan gets the services of Beckham, and all the publicity that goes with him, for free. This is in part due to the fact that Milan and Beckham share an important sponsor, sportswear multi-national Adidas. Further grist to the Beckham family mill came with the announcement that Mrs. Beckham will be featuring in the launch of a new line of lingerie from Milan-based fashion maestro, Giorgio Armani.

All in all, there may be something in this for everyone, fans included. After all, who doesn't want to see Beckham line up in a Milan all-star 11 that could also include 40-year-old Paolo Maldini, Andriy Shevchenko (now 32) as well as Brazilian "youngsters" Ronaldinho (28) and Kaká (26)?

This article excerpt originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of World Soccer magazine. To subscribe, click here.