June 18 – Galactico Beckham
“Never, never, never. Nobody at Real has ever spoken about Beckham and I don’t want to start now. We are very happy with our current team and will never, ever sign Beckham.” Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, April 30, 2003.
On this day in 2003, just six weeks after Perez’s emphatic denial, David Beckham signed for the Spanish giants in a £25m deal.
Becks was one of the golden generation of Manchester United players that came through the academy alongside the likes of Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers, and became the heartbeat of the team that dominated English football in the 1990s.
It was once unimaginable that Beckham would ever leave Old Trafford – he was a key figure for the club both on the field where many a striker benefited from his exceptional crosses from the right wing, and off it where United made a fortune in exploiting his marketability around the world.
But it was precisely this aspect of his life that began to rile Sir Alex Ferguson. While Becks was doing his utmost to cultivate his media presence alongside his celebrity Spice Girl wife and appearing in adverts for everything from aftershave to motor oil, Fergie expected his players to concentrate on the job in hand, namely playing football.
Rumours began to emerge that all was not well in the relationship between the manager and one of his star players and once the press got hold of the story, it was never going to die.
Much was made of the infamous incident when Fergie kicked a boot in a fit of pique after a bad game which hit Becks in the face, although is was probably just a freak accident.
Things began to get worse for Becks when his club took on Real Madrid in the Champions League. Fergie left Becks out of the starting line up for both legs of the tie, although he came on during the second leg at Old Trafford and was the best player on the pitch, even scoring despite Madrid turfing United out of the competition.
After that it seemed the writing was on the wall for Beck’s United career, despite repeated denials that Madrid were interested in him.
His potential transfer became the biggest issue in Spanish football as both Barcelona and Real Madrid battled for his signature.
Eventually Madrid won and Becks became the latest Galactico signing for Perez. The president who had to vehemently denied moving for Beckham said at the press conference: “Beckham is here because we believe in him as a footballer. David, welcome to the dream league. We love Beckham because he makes us the best team on and off the pitch.”
Meanwhile Beckham himself seemed to adopt the classic Brit-abroad approach to speaking to the Spanish people by sticking to the most basic of pronoucements. “I have always loved football,” he said.
“Of course I love my family. I have a wonderful life, but football is everything to me and joining Real Madrid is a dream come true.
“I would like to say thank you to everyone coming and joining me in my arrival. Gracias – hala Madrid!”
He must have though his move was a ticket to a hat-full of trophies as Real were the dominant force in Spain and in Europe at the time while Barcelona were in disarray and struggling in mid table.
If only. Madrid imploded while Barca rallied and Beckham won nothing with the club until the unlikely La Liga triumph in 2007 under Fabio Capello.
Have a look here to read about one of England’s best performances in the modern era, and come on back tomorrow for more footballing history hijinx.
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