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Roadshow makes Beckham too sexy for his team

The following correction was printed in the Guardian’s Corrections and Clarifications column, Monday June 16 2003

The box accompanying the article below attempted to set out the probabilities of his transferring to one of three other clubs. The mathematical outcome proved to be impossible: we gave three probability ratings of 8/10, 6/10, and 4/10, giving a total of 18 chances out of 10. The combined score of each probability rating in this case can be no more than 10.

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David Beckham was on the verge of a unique transfer last month. No fee was involved and he would only have moved a few hundred yards, but there has never been a scheme like it in the history of the England team. The Football Association had decided it would be unsafe to keep the captain with the rest buy canada goose coat online of the squad at their La Manga training camp.

They foresaw him becoming besieged in the bustling hotel. The players’ families were welcome on the trip and the FA’s anxiety over safety issues had been aggravated by newspaper reports of a plot to kidnap Beckham’s wife Victoria, although the case against those accused of the offence recently collapsed.

He was to have been put in a separate house on the complex, with Nigel Mansell’s home there a possible choice. The controversial step was avoided when Beckham’s suspension for Wednesday’s match with Slovakia made it sensible to declare his season over after the friendly against South Africa in Durban on May 22.

« We had been prepared for a long time, » said Sven-Goran Eriksson. « He wouldn’t have stayed at the hotel because that would have been impossible. We would have put him best ideas about canada goose outlet online on pinterest close to it, in a private villa. Normally we would never make different arrangements [for one player], but our security people saw the problem. It was not his request. »

The Hyatt Regency at La Manga has 192 berlin film festival ends canada goose jacket sponsorship amid rooms and seclusion is impossible, but Beckham was at ease there only two years ago, as England prepared for a match in Greece, and holidaymakers were full of praise for his approachability. Although the player was unusual even then, his celebrity has grown at such a rate subsequently that it could overwhelm his life.

Society at large became more fretful and alert after September 11, 2001 and the FA had to ready itself to protect Victoria as well as the couple’s two children, Brooklyn and Romeo. None the less, the issue does not arise solely because David Beckham is a highly talented footballer.

The ever-expanding hinterland of his life beyond the sport is taking on the proportions of a continent and, so far as Sir Alex Ferguson is concerned, every inch of it is dangerous territory. The United manager has often been worried about the many activities that could distract Beckham from his work on the field.

After the player was hit accidentally by a boot that Ferguson kicked in the Old Trafford dressing room following the defeat by Arsenal in February there was speculation that the England captain would seek to leave. Perceptions have radically altered since then, even if a departure for Barcelona, Real Madrid or an Italian side appears likelier than ever.

Now it is United who seem set on a parting of the ways while Beckham’s representatives, whether through honesty or crafty PR clearance, present him as a loyal servant. It could indeed be that the Old Trafford board, who confirmed at the weekend that they are in negotiation with Spanish and Italian clubs, feel a fee of up to £30m would be irresistible, particularly if they also judge that they are close to exhausting Beckham’s commercial potential in his present incarnation as a Premiership player.

There is a temptation, as well, to let some foreign club cope buying canada goose jacket online with the Beckham hullabaloo. The midfielder is unusual in his apparent enjoyment of much of the hysteria he can generate. « He is obviously coping with it, » the England vice-captain Michael Owen said, « because he does it so well. »

Beckham’s summer vacation is more of a world tour this year. He met Nelson Mandela on the England trip to South Africa, cut a glamorous figure with Victoria at the MTV movie awards in Los Angeles and is expected to go on a jaunt to the Far East before being given an audience with the United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan. A window in his diary will also have to be found for the investiture ceremony at which he is expected to be presented with an OBE by the Queen.

« Anyone is entitled to decide what they want to do with their holiday, » Eriksson said mildly of Beckham’s schedule. It would be curmudgeonly to chastise the player for making the most of his good looks and relishing canada goose coat – kensington the opportunities that his gifts have afforded him.

He is likeable. After the Euro best ideas about canada goose parka on pinterest 2004 match in Vaduz, local kids ran towards the Liechtenstein coach Ralf Loose to tell him they had got an England player’s autograph. He hardly needed to ask which star had made time for them. Beckham can be a very engaging human being.

So far as any transfer is concerned, Eriksson claims that he will give advice if asked but does not much care where Beckham plays so long as it is with a high-level club. A hectic existence has not sapped the midfielder’s commitment so far and he has even scored in all four of England’s Euro can you machine wash canada goose jacket black friday 2013 canada goose sale 2004 qualifiers.

His extraordinary circumstances, however, may isolate him from the rest of the squad in a profession where camaraderie is precious. That short walk to a villa in La Manga could have represented a psychological gap.

« It has never been disturbing for us, » said Eriksson. « He is extremely popular wherever he goes. You saw it in Japan. It was absolutely incredible. In South Africa it was the same. It’s because he’s a great footballer, and maybe because the ladies think buy canada goose jacket cheap he’s a nice-looking young man. And of course he’s married to a very famous wife.

« From what I have seen, though, he has always lived perfectly. I admire him. I have never seen any negative impact on the squad. He works very hard and he just sits in can you buy canada goose jacket online his place on the bus with all the others.

« He is the most popular player we have. It’s very good to have someone like that in your team. He has to be admired because he can handle it. I don’t think the rest of the players care if Beckham attracts 500 photographers and the others get just 400. I have never noticed anyone looking jealous. Beckham is like the others. That is the secret, I guess: to be a big star without asking for favours. »

Beckham has pulled off the trick so far, but if the global hysteria about him continues reaching new levels his performances will eventually be undermined. Although he loves football and Manchester United, a weakness for publicity could detach him from both.

So where will he end up?

Real Madrid

The Spanish club are said to be Beckham’s preferred choice should he leave Old Trafford, and the chance to join the most glamourous and expensive team ever assembled appeals greatly to his sense of style. Madrid’s fervent denials of interest in April should be discounted.

Probability rating 8/10

Milan

The possibility of a swap deal involving the Ukrainian striker Andrei Shevchenko would make the European champions the choice of Sir Alex Ferguson, if not Beckham himself. Milan do not have a specialist in his position and finding the cash would not be a problem.

Probability 6/10

Barcelona

The Catalan club’s presidential candidate Joan Laporta has based his campaign on signing Beckham and there has been frequent contact between his representatives and United’s. But Laporta is not favourite to win the presidency and Barcelona are not the powerhouse of old.

Probability 4/10