Beckham going to Madrid?

[SpencerH]

Is Sir Alex on drugs or what! This isnt like transferring an aging/injured Gazza.

Madness

[reds4ever]

Man U have really sold Beckham down the river, even if he turns down Barca (which I think he will) the postion id pretty much untennable. They shouldv'e at least imformed the player first that they had accpted an offer before going public, the bidder isn't even president of a football club as it stands at the moment!!

[FrustratedPoet]

There's no way he's going to Barca. It simply wouldn't make any sense for either Beckham or the catalans for him to go there. If Barca want to build a team to get themselves back in the Champions League then they are better ways to spend £30million.

I expect Becks to go to Madrid, and I think it will be a good move for both teams. £30million is a gigantic amount of money given the slump in the transfer market over the past year. If (IF) United get Ronaldinho he'll only cost them 9-12 million. They could get 3 world class players with the money they get from Beckham - players they desperately need (another Striker and a Goalie being the most important).

I think that playing in Madrid would make Beckham a better player, because of being surrounded by so many other awesome players and the experience of the continental game. Such a transfer could only be good for England, IMHO. That's assuming that Beckham is actually good enough to get in the Real team...

[ottok]

Joke? but Atletico/real?

[FrustratedPoet]

ottok sighting! *waves*

He means Real Madrid.

No, it isn't a joke. The transfer isn't certain yet, but it looks very possible. The BBC website has several news items about it in the sport section.

[reds4ever]

The way they 've played it, United are going to have trouble on their hands if he doesn't go SOMEWHERE

[FrustratedPoet]

Agreed.

[Giancarlo]

Hmm... considering Real Madrid is my favorite team.. I will keep a close eye on this...

[Daz]

But really, Real Madrid actually doesnt need Beckham. Only if Figo was about to leave, which is not likely...

[alva]

Are any of these Spanish clubs ever even gonna try to get out of debt btw?

I really hope he stays with Man U though, somehow it fits and in general not too many english players have been succesfull in Spain either.

[FrustratedPoet]

Of course what they really need is defenders. But Real Madrid haven't had any defenders on their squad for about a decade so I don't see why they'd start now.

[Zopperoni]

How much is Real offering Man Utd for him?

[FrustratedPoet]

The figure being thrown about in the media is always around £30million. A couple of months ago people were talking about a player+cash deal involving Figo, but I haven't heard that mentioned for a while now. Can't see it happening.
It's impossible to tell what's REALLY going on, of course, since the Machiavellian politics of setting up a transfer like this is bound to obscure most of the juicy information.

[Zopperoni]

I see, thanks, FP.

If I may compare this to the Zidane transfer, Juventus bought three very good players (Buffon, Thuram, and Nedved) for the money it got from Zidane.
If Ferguson and Man Utd have something similar in mind, it could be a good move (for both parties).

[reds4ever]

If I was negotiating for Madrid, I'd wait until Beckham had turned down Barca, find out what Barca bid, and bid less. Because if MANU were willing to accept (say) 30M for a player who WASN"T disillusioned, unsettled and unmotivated at the club, they'll accept less now that he is!