I’m curious to see if this will get dressed up any for a TV spot too.

(H/T to the guys over at SBNation for pointing this out earlier.)

David Beckham wants to go back to Europe next month, go figure. (Getty Images)

This just seems about right. Each year since David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer it seems around December or so he’s looking for a winter/spring loan back to Europe. Most people thought this year would be different since his last loan back in Europe didn’t go so well as it ended in a nasty Achilles tendon injury with AC Milan.

Well with his health back to normal, Becks is saying he wants another go in Europe this winter to stay fit for the English national team.

This time however he won’t be headed back to Italy with Milan but likely back to where it all began for him with Manchester United. Beckham had turned down some other offers with Everton insisting the only EPL side he would want to return to would be ManU.

The Galaxy aren’t exactly holding him back this time around. Him going off for a loan spell in England would likely free up some cap space that would be very much needed for the club who seems like they are willing to spend as much as it takes this year to win another title.

I can’t say I’m totally shocked to hear that Becks wants to go back this winter and probably the spring to play in Europe. He’s in the final year of his MLS/Galaxy contract and the has actually done better without him over the years. Freeing up some space for half of the season could help get Juan Pablo Angel and Frankie Hejduk on board. How LA does their salary cap is still a mystery to most within and around the league. This should be an interesting story to see play out.

Go ahead, debate it. You know in the last day or so you’ve though about the impact of David Beckham vs the impact of Thierry Henry to Major League Soccer. Both have their pluses and minuses but each in my mind do the same thing, make the league that much better with them in it.

I’ve seen a lot of banter over the last couple days about each guy and what they’ve done or will do for the sport here in America and for MLS in general.

One guy is all about marketing himself while the other markets himself in a different manner that doesn’t annoy most folks. Each will help sell tickets and bring in crowds. Each also will continue to help drive other big name stars to the league. Each came to big markets looking to play but each also come with different meanings.

Beckham for instance came over a couple years ago because it was time for him and his group to put his brand in America for real. Sure there was some soccer involved but it was more about moving his family to the States so his wife could be on TMZ more and for his kids to have a “normal life” of sorts.

But Beckham came over with injuries and then desire to play for England in the World Cup which meant him leaving for half of the season last year to play for AC Milan. Henry on the other hand is coming here retired from international soccer, so when a big game comes up for France he won’t be leaving New York to play in it.

Beckham’s legacy here for MLS is always going to go down differently though. Without him there probably would be no Henry or at least Henry wouldn’t have come over here this soon in his career.

At the end of the day the league is better with both of them in it, even if Beckham won’t necessarily be in it for this season. But for the league to really expand its footprint, well, I still believe those two aren’t enough to do so. They help out in a big way but getting talent from within (young American talent that is, think 10-20 Landon Donovans) at the end of the day will help. But that’s another discussion for another day.

The Galaxy could actually be better in 2010 than what they were in 2009. (Getty Images)

We’re a little over half way home in our look at each Major League Soccer club this winter. So far we’ve hammered out Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Philadelphia in out preseason look ins.

So far this winter the LA Galaxy have had a similar offseason that we expected them to have. David Beckham went to Italy to be with AC Milan and Landon Donovan went to England to play for Everton until March. We knew going into the winter months that those things would happen. Unlike last year when there was a lot of bad press about loan moves for Beckham, this year was a little smoother for the two sides.

Aside from that Bruce Arena has made a couple moves since then and even with one draft pick back in January at the SuperDraft he came away with a solid draft grade by me and most people.

Let’s see how the Galaxy are looking right now and what else they need to do to their roster before the season kicks off.

Keepers:

Who they have: Donovan Ricketts, and Josh Saunders.

Notes: No third keeper on the books just yet but I’m sure they’ll have one eventually. It doesn’t matter though as I honestly believe they have one of the best starter/backup duos in the league with Ricketts and Saunders.

We know that Saunders can step in at a moments notice if Ricketts goes down but for the most part Arena has little to worry about in this department.

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Defense:

Who they have: Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, Yohance Marshall, Alex, AJ DeLaGarza, Leonardo, and Sean Franklin.

Notes: There were plenty of issues with this group last year, particularly when a team had speed to burn they’d be in trouble. Most folks believe the two Brazilians (Alex and Leonardo) are there to fix that as well as provide depth. Honestly this group is only going to get better considering the amount of youth there. I know Berhalter and Dunivant aren’t young but with guys like Franklin, DeLaGarza and Gonzalez this group should be fine for years to come.

I think they addressed their needs with the two Brazilians too. I haven’t seen much of them yet but a couple folks have told me they’ll fit in fine for Arena in the back. Alex was brought in to fill a left back spot and I’d imagine the Arena and company aren’t as worried about this group as they were two months ago.

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Midfield:

Who they have: David Beckham, Clint Mathis, Eddie Lewis, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko, Mike Magee, Juninho, Chris Birchall, and Michael Stephens.

Notes: They won’t have Beckham until after the World Cup, we know that much and really that isn’t a big deal as we saw last year. The big deal with this group is even though they added Juninho and Stephens they haven’t gotten any younger. I’m not sure but I am willing to bet this may be the oldest group of midfielders in the entire league right now. Its a risky move to have that many veteran players in one area of the team and at times last year it costed them.

Still as long as all the right parties are healthy and the ones that come off the bench produce they should see similar results from 2009. I love the addition of Stephens through the SuperDraft. He may end up being one of the more underrated picks of this year.

I would have like to have seen some more work done in this area on the wings but between the draft and the addition of Juninho and Mathis they will likely be fine here.

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Forwards:

Who they have: Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Jovan Kirvoski, Alecko Eskandarian, Tristan Bowen, Alen Gordon, and Bryan Jordan.

Notes: Donovan will be back but after the World Cup will he go again for good may be a big question on everyone’s mind. I think the big thing will be if Buddle can step up when he is gone with the national team leading up to the World Cup and during the it. Buddle is the X-factor here for Arena and the Galaxy, if he produced while Donovan is gone they’ll easily be a factor for the Supporter’s Shield this year, if not it could be a long summer.

They do have plenty of strikers right now on the books but one has to wonder if guys like Jordan, Gordon, Eskandarian and Kirvoski will really all be here at the end of this season. One has to figure at least one of them won’t be. Still all will factor in some way off the bench this year.

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Overall:

I like the moves LA made this winter. In a way I want to say that they’re right on track to where they need to go but something in me thinks they may need to do a another move or two to be safe. This club should contend even without having Beckham for half the year and even without Donovan for some of the year as well. It will be interesting to see if Donovan scores a transfer this summer after the World Cup, if he does it could a big turning point in this club because it would open up a lot of cap space that I know Arena could work wonders with.

Still with Donovan on the roster you have to figure this club will do well this year. I like where this club is going here and they should contend again this year.

David Beckham will be a club owner in the near future. (Getty Images)

While we don’t know where the location of the 20th Major League Soccer club will eventually be we do have a pretty good idea of who the owner of the club will be. It’s been reported nearly everywhere that David Beckham has an option in his mega-MLS contract that stipulates he can own a club once he is done playing in the league.

So in 2012 when his contract is up he will likely stay in the league as an owner.

“We’ve got options of which team [to buy],” said MLS commissioner Don Garber, declining to name them or potential cities. “It will happen eventually, yeah.”

Beckham’s option starts with the 20th MLS club according to Garber but that won’t come until at least 2012. With Montreal set to be number 19 you have ti figure the list of potential cities for a Beckham owned team is pretty short. I don’t see Beckham taking over an existing club at the moment and relocating it. Expansion seems to be the way the league wants this deal to work out so more than likely the city has to be big. More than likely it will have to be a New York if it is an expansion team.

From what a few folks are saying this morning like Steve Goff, some former expansion sites like St. Louis and Miami are out of the question right now. Goff said there just isn’t the right money involved in those areas to be considered a strong candidate at the moment.

I know the league does need to be in the Southeast at some point but I just think a Beckham-owned team is better suited for New York here.

Beckham looks to be on the move again this winter. (R. Epperley for WVHooligan.com)

Looks like David Beckham will be back in Italy this winter as ESPNSoccernet is reporting today that a loan deal between AC Milan and the LA Galaxy is nearly a done deal.

Negotiations have been going on for some weeks and on Wednesday night Beckham intimated that they were 95% done, although the Milan chief has now confirmed the move.

“David Beckham’s return on loan in January is already a done deal,” Galliani told Sky Sport Italia.

Should everything work out smoothly he will be able to join the club for a big away game on January 10th against Juventus.

Hopefully unlike last year this loan deal goes a little smoother for the two sides and for Beckham. I’m curious to see if it will be just last this year’s deal where Beckham will re-join the Galaxy in the middle of the summer, presumably after the World Cup.

First up is the lovely discussion that will be on going for the next 20 or 30 years with Major League Soccer. Yes I am actually talking about Promotion and Relegation system with the league. I bring it up since Don Garber was wise (sarcasm intended) to mention today out in London that he hopes to see that kind of system introduced to MLS down the line.

Thankfully Garber did say that the league is far too young and doesn’t nearly have the money to do such a thing at this time. So we’d have to imagine that we are at least 20 years away from such a thing. Maybe by then I’ll have a different opinion on doing it here.

Most of you know I’ve always been in the boat that it is a system that will never work here. Basically it is one of those things that if the timing is right, along with many other factors (including money) that it could work here.

I just don’t see this as something that Garber or the league is actually willing to try anytime soon though. But I do believe that this will only get the debate going that much more with those out there that believe it will work here in the States with MLS. To this day I have still yet to hear a good enough reason why the league needs to eventually switch to that kind of a system.

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Beckham Allowed to be Loaned Out

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He’s free to be loaned out yet again by the LA Galaxy this winter. The thing is Galaxy boss Tim Leiweke wants a loan done before things get real muddy like they did last winter with the Galaxy and AC Milan for David Beckham.

”We have a deep appreciation of what he is doing over here with his national team,” he said. ”I wanted him to know that we will support him so we are going to lend him out.”

”We know he has to be playing in Europe leading up to the World Cup. That has been made clear to us, and we are going to support that. He will be somewhere come January and we will see him back in July.

”We have a contract and despite people thinking we’re going to sell him, we’re not. David is going to finish his career with the Galaxy.”

You know if this is how the Beckham contract is going to be then so be it. Let’s get it done and move on so the club doesn’t have a looming circus over its head for a few months this winter.

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Home Depot Center Closing Upper Deck For Playoffs

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A bold move by the LA Galaxy who return to the playoffs for the first time in a couple years. They will be closing off the upper deck at the HDC for the playoffs. Since they may only host a single playoff game it does sounds like a risky move. They will only open it up if the lower bowl is sold out for their playoff game(s).

I guess since they are averaging just slightly below 20,000 this season they can do this sort of thing to increase atmosphere. My gut feeling tells me they will end up opening the top deck though for the playoffs.

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KC Stadium Update

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Mike at Down the Byline checks in with another update for the KC Stadium. This time he guesses when the stadium will be completed if all things go well. Right now it stands a chance at opening in the middle of the 2011 season. I kind of wonder if they will get the usually schedule treatment like others have had when opening a stadium during the middle of the season and get loads of road games early on with a massive amount of home games late to make up for it. Guess we will see, I just hope the project gets done either way.

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Open Letter To Chicago’s Owners

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A while back I nearly did a ranking of each club’s owners and I thought at the time the Fire’s owners were one of the better owners in the league…okay honestly I did have them at middle of the pack. But after seeing a letter like this I have to wonder if they should be lower on that list if I ever come around to finishing it.

First up, the coaching hot seat update.

Basically nothing has changed in my mind since my last update. I do think that Chris Cummins stands the best chance to keep his job if his club reaches the playoffs. Without a playoff trip he will easily join Tom Soehn and Jason Kreis in the pink slip line.

My big question is however if Tom Soehn does get fired by DC United this off season, how long will it take them to get former United star Richie Williams as their new coach? Believe me that would be a great hire for them and for Williams. I know he is currently the interim manager at New York right now but we all know they are looking for a bigger name to help open that new stadium next year.

I really do believe the likely candidates for firing are Soehn and Kreis here. Both had clubs with very high expectations this year and each have under delivered on those expectations. Soehn did have a rough schedule with a load of extra games but that won’t be good enough in DC. As for Kreis I think it comes down to management seeing if he has taken this club as far as he can, which the answer is yes. I just don’t see RSL going any further than a below average club each year under Kreis.

Also, don’t sleep on someone like Denis Hamlett getting canned at the end of this year as well. His Fire have massively under produced this year based on the very high expectations placed on them. I know they are close to clinching but they haven’t exactly lit the league up this year like most thought.

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MVP Update:

With Landon Donovan winning the player of the week award (again) this past week I had to wonder how that will affect his MVP status this year. To be honest it did help it but there are still a couple more candidates out there that are far better than what Donovan has been this year. And don’t get me wrong, Donovan has been great in 2009.

Right now if I had to vote today my three votes would go to (in no particular order):

1. Shalrie Joseph (New England)
2. Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus)
3. Jeff Cunningham (Dallas)

I won’t give away who I’d be placing as the top choice yet because I still don’t even know that one yet. Joseph has pretty much put a New England side that is ravaged with injuries on his back. He leads the club in scoring and continues to help them push towards a playoff spot. For the Revs to not have Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston, Chris Albright and now Jay Heaps healthy this season you’d think they would have had no shot at the playoffs. But with Joseph leading the way it is possible.

Now I really shouldn’t have to explain GBS here. His stats don’t lie and even though he totally missed a PK this past weekend against Seattle I would still vote for him.

As for Cunningham, I go back and forth on him. Since the trade of Kenny Cooper he has scored a lotta goals. He’s scored 15 goals in 12 games. Yes 15 goals in 12 games. Even though Dallas really has no shot at the playoffs they do have a go-to scorer in Cunningham. People may not like him as a MVP selection but if he continues on his current pace he could end up with 18 or 19 goals on the year and be the Golden Boot winner.

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Garber Sees MLS Model As More Stable Than Euro Leagues

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Its a bold statement anytime Don Garber opens his mouth out the league in European territory. Why do I say that? Because he usually comes up with statements like the league is more stable based on the salary cap than the current situations in most European leagues. Yes very bold but also yes to being pretty true. While I think we are ages and I mean ages away from seeing top leagues in Europe adopting the MLS structure for player contracts and a salary cap I do think it could happen. If enough owners in Europe are tired of big clubs spending away then it could happen.

With so many clubs in debt over seas can you blame Garber for being so happy to say his league’s model is working? No. I’m willing to bet in the next few years that most MLS clubs will at least be on good terms each year when it comes to balancing the books, if not happily in the green each year.

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Beckham Rising?

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Go down to number 8 on Steve Davis’ weekly MLS wrap and read the part about David Beckham. Boy does Davis speak truth to ever bit of what Beckham is doing these days in the league. While the hype is down on him the play is definitely up. He truly has found his own here in the league. With him in the lineup the Galaxy have gone 5-2-2 with 1.44 goals a game. Without him they’ve been slightly worse going 6-4-9 and only 1.11 goals a game. You do the math, the Galaxy are better with him.