LA Galaxy expect David Beckham to return next month after AC Milan failed to meet a Friday deadline to make the US club an acceptable offer for the England midfielder.
“Today’s [Friday] deadline imposed by Major League Soccer (MLS) Commissioner Don Garber regarding a resolution of David Beckham’s potential transfer to AC Milan has passed and we did not receive an acceptable offer for the player,” Galaxy general manager and head coach Bruce Arena said in a statement. “As a result, David remains an LA Galaxy player and we look forward to having him back with the club starting March 9.”
Beckham is on loan to AC Milan until March 8 and his success there had prompted the club and the player to express a desire to make the move permanent.
PHOTO: AP
Tim Leiweke, chief executive of Galaxy owners AEG, told the Los Angeles Times that no late offer would be considered because the Galaxy and MLS must move forward with their plans for the upcoming season.
“He will be back here on March 9 and we don’t want to entertain any more conversations now,” Leiweke told the Times. “It is a distraction to Bruce Arena, the team and the fans and we move on. That’s the last we’re going to talk about this.”
Reports in Europe on Friday had indicated that despite the deadline, negotiations would go on at least through the weekend.
Leiweke said he would not be surprised if AC Milan responded with an offer over the weekend or later in the week, but insisted the Galaxy didn’t intend to negotiate further.
“They’ll come back. Sure they will ... That’s not fair. We owe it to Bruce and we owe it to the rest of the team. We’re a month away from our season,” he said.
Leiweke told the Times that AC Milan had “never been in the ballpark” in terms of offering what Beckham is worth.
The 33-year-old equaled Bobby Moore’s England record of 108 caps for an outfield player when he featured against Spain on Wednesday.
And Beckham knows that by playing for Milan, the former club of his international manager Fabio Capello, he should also secure his place in future England squads, perhaps all the way to next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later