Some of us can only imagine what it feel likes to be one of the most famous footballers on the planet, earning record amounts measured in millions of pounds and playing for one of the world’s biggest clubs while captaining your country at the World Cup finals. David Beckham doesn’t have to imagine it, this is the way his life has turned out thanks to a combination of an impressive right foot, a face that isn’t out of place on magazine covers and a publicity hungry wife who used to pout in a girl “band”.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? What happens though when the reason you first got noticed at all starts to wane and the murmurs of discontent start to grow to a steady rumble? Age catches up with us all and especially for those who find themselves in the relentless spotlight of the media, day in and day out. David Beckham is about to enter the most critical stage of his career since he first signed professional forms for Manchester United and I really don’t know how much of a say he’ll have in where his career is headed after this World CUp finishes.

Real Madrid are in a state of flux. The “Galactico” regime is crumbling, the players they spent their vast fees on are old and ready to retire or be replaced. Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Beckham - the names that used to strike fear into opposition sides can now be looked at with eager anticipation by a young, fast and skilful side who can use their natural pace to exploit the tired legs. Figo’s departure to Inter last summer was the start of the breakup and this year will see many more casualties, starting with Zidane’s retirement.

Madrid have made noises about David Beckham finishing his career with the club but will the continued income stream from his merchandise range really make up for keeping an ageing, off the pace midfielder in a prominent team position and if not, will Beckham accept being a bench warmer, willing to accept an occasional cameo appearance to please the sponsors? I think not. If a new coach comes in, maybe Arsene Wenger or Fabio Capello, will they want the ego of Beckham botching up their plans for a new generation of Madrid stars just so the club shop can sell a few jerseys? I know Wenger wouldn’t for a start so if Beckham is going, where would he go?

Manchester United won’t want him back, his problems with Sir Alex Ferguson haven’t went away despite the few years break they’ve had. Wenger, if he stays at Arsenal, won’t want him as ageing primadonnas with no pace don’t exactly fit into the Arsenal setup he’s created. Chelsea, while going down a neo-galactico route this summer themselves might just see the England captain as too much of a burden on the pitch to carry, being honest, Becks is no match for Michael Ballack or Andriy Shevchenko even at a similar age to these guys.

So where’s left? Liverpool doesn’t seem likely, again he wouldn’t fit their system. the polciy oif buying young English players at Spurs would rule him out from joining his grandfather’s favourite club and the continued success of Aaron Lennon means there would be no sense in playing him anyway.

In my opinion, the only place fo him to come back and be accepted into would be that great purveyor of overpriced players, Newcastle United. With Michael Owen’s injury ruling him out until 2007 and Alan Shearer’s retirement, the board need a big name signing to placate their season ticket holders and they don’t come much bigger than David Beckham. Is it so ridiculous to imagine the England captain in the black and white next season? I don’t think so and the main reason is that there is really no other takers that he would accept going to, a feeling Michael Owen must be very familiar with after his own departure from Real Madrid last summer.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 24th, 2006 at 8:42 am and is filed under General Football Articles. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.