Thursday, January 11, 2007

Becks to MLS

I know the war is escalating in Iraq, we're blasting Somalis and Afghans, and bin Laden is still on the run, but sometimes you have to take a break and enjoy the good news:
The Los Angeles Galaxy have completed arguably the biggest transaction in MLS history Thursday, signing midfielder David Beckham from Real Madrid.

Beckham has agreed to a five-year deal with the Galaxy. He'll join the club during the summer transfer window after his contract with Real expires on June 30.

If you don't already know how big of a deal this is, then just stop reading here because I can't do it justice trying to explain it to you.

Now guess how much he's getting paid. No really, guess.

Nope, not even close:
The Galaxy didn't say exactly what they'll pay him, but floated a figure of $250 million in salary and commercial endorsements over the five years of his contract. In other words, his move could be worth $1 million a week.

That means in two weeks he'll make what the now former highest paid player in MLS made last year. And he may not be alone. Rumor has it another big-name footballer is considering a move:

Since a blockbuster deal was announced to bring Soccer superstar David Beckham to the USA (a la the LA Galaxy), reports are now surfacing that another big name star, Ronaldo, might also be following Beckham to the States.

Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldo appears ready to hang it up with Spain's team Real Madrid, the Spanish daily newspaper Marca reported Thursday.

You'll note, Beckham's move was also predicated on the souring of his relationship with Real Madrid. The story may not end the same with Ronaldo, but it is certainly most intriguing.

Now of course, these guys aren't coming to Dallas. Only cities as big as LA and NY can contain the likes of Beckham and Ronaldo. But lost in all the shuffle is some news on the FCD front as well (via Frontburner):
FC Dallas has entered into talks with Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids about joining their team. When reached at the SuperDraft in Indianapolis, FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow confirmed that dialog with the hard nosed midfielder had been ongoing. "His name came up back in England when I went there after Christmas to look at some players and speak to some agents and right away I was interested." Talks between FCD and the midfielder started then and with the transfer window closing at the end of the month, a deal could happen quickly. "We've come a long way in the last couple weeks," said Morrow. "He has some other offers, but I feel good and positive about it."

Davids isn't a young man (neither are Beckham and Ronaldo) and their days as prime players are perhaps over. But Davids is a legitimate international super-star (just not an uber star like Becks and Ronaldo) and scoring him for FC Dallas would be a major, major coup.

Anyway, that's it for the good news. Go read about Iraq and Somalia if you're looking to be depressed agian.

1 comment:

Nat-Wu said...

Good news for American soccer.