David Beckham’s management company denies that the English star has any plans to play in Australia, despite claims by Football Federation Australia that preliminary talks had started for Beckham to join their league.
“There is always enormous interest from clubs across the world in signing David as a player,” Beckham’s management company said in a statement. “There are absolutely no plans to play in Australia. David is completely focused on the MLS playoffs and winning another championship with the Galaxy.”
FFA said they were approached by an agent representing the 37-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder about having him play with an A-League team this season for some matches.
Beckham is currently playing in Major League Soccer with the Galaxy. He signed as two-year contract with the team in January for reportedly $6.5 million a year. Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007 after an illustrious career with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Some believe that Beckham’s management has denounced the rumors because the star has yet to commit to playing for the Galaxy next season.
Beckham’s representatives denied the reports after FFA chief executive David Gallop decided to go public with the details of the apparent talks to bring him to Australia for a 10-game stint.
“I spoke to the player’s agent today and said to him it would be fantastic,” Gallop told Australian broadcaster Fox Sports. “There would be some hoops to jump through. Clubs need to come forward be the first point of contact.”
Gallop is hoping that the guest stint will cause Beckham to want stay in the league on a long-term basis.
If Beckham decides to leave the MLS after five seasons and head to the A-League, he may have quite a few teams interested, but the Melbourne Victory would not be one of them.
Victory coach Ange Postecoglou has already ruled out signing the midfielder because he feels it would be a disruption to the club.
“That’s great if he is interested in coming to the A-League. Would we be interested? No,” Postecoglou told The Australian.
If Beckham decides to join the Australia’s league then he raises the leagues notoriety to another level after the arrivals of former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey (Newcastle) and Juventus forward Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC).
But for right now Beckham’s camp insist his focus is on winning another MLS cup with the Galaxy. The Galaxy can take a 2-0 lead against the Seattle Sounders Sunday in the Western Conference Championships to move to the finals.
