Beck to the Future
Plenty being discussed about Beckham and I’ve sat on my thoughts (amazing what you can do with a tab of acid) and pondered the various pros and cons and listened and read various opinions on why he should/shouldn’t become part of the Tottenham evolution.
No matter the countless strong arguments for and against this potential loan deal there remains one constant which for me has got stronger and stronger every time I sit and think about the logistics of signing a thirty-five year old on loan for a couple of months. The constant being exactly that. A couple of months. A loan. He’ll arrive, no doubt to the usual media hullabaloo with giddy fans outside WHL telling the Sky cameras they have no time to chat as they run towards the massive queue outside the Spurs Shop salivating at the prospect of ‘Beckham’ printed on the back of the home shirt and to also get their hands on the specially released official dvd – ‘Beckham: The Medical and Press Conference’.
Regardless of whether you believe in ‘the circus’ that follows him around, cameras always on him before anyone else, if he does accept the invitation and if LA Galaxy give their approval – it’s as short term as it can possibly get. Hello, how you doing, goodbye. That’s about six hundred flicks of the hair, two thousand moody stares from the bench and at least six and half thousand smiles. Or in relative terms, two months or so, a few cameos, the odd start, a free-kick or two and hours upon hours of hard training and chats and hugs with the squad.
It’s that constant again. Two months.
I don’t see the point in dissecting this in any great detail. We know Beckham is past his prime. We know (if played often) he’d be far more effective in Italy where the football caters for the older generation of footballers or the MLS where the football caters for the.'.yadda yadda yadda.
We know Tottenham play counter-attacking football, at speed, and that his role at Spurs will probably be more about his presence on the training ground and as a very astute deflection of attention away from the players who might start finding the pressure pressing down on them in the coming weeks.
We also know that he will play a part at some point, otherwise - for the sake of commercial reasons and coaching (tips and hints etc) it’s hardly worth all the effort if Harry doesn’t have reason to use Becks out on the battlefield. As reinforcement. Perhaps as a calming influence in the latter stages of a game.
So that’s it really. No need for dramatics. It’s a loan. For two months. As long as we do sign players we actually need as part of the Harry/Levy blueprint for the now and future (i.e. world class forward, another midfielder) then having David Beckham at the club is hardly going to be detrimental. If people actually believe we'll drop Lennon and change the whole system to accommodate him, you need your head checking.
We should all know in under 48 hours. Probably.
As for transfer news – Graham Hunter has been at it with some ITK suggesting Llorente was a target but no longer one (due to price), Pienaar has signed on a pre-contract and we are also looking at Cazorla. Tip of the iceberg, there are plenty more stories doing the rounds. Doesn't matter too much, does it? We sign who we sign, how we get there is just process.
Welcome to January.
Hold onto your hats.
