In the midst of his prime, still the world’s most recognizable athlete and on course to be a free agent in six months’ time, David Beckham had the football world at his feet on 11 January 2007. That’s why the news that broke that day – that the former Manchester United superstar was to leave Real Madrid at the end of the current La Liga season to join LA Galaxy in MLS – was so stunning.
“I’m coming there not to be a superstar,” the 31-year-old said in a press conference to formally announce the move the following day. “I’m coming there to be part of the team, to work hard and to hopefully win things.
“With me, it’s about football. I’m coming there to make a difference. I’m coming there to play football.”
Beckham’s sentiment was difficult to accept. If his decision was driven by competition, by a desire to further stock a trophy cabinet replete with the game’s most desired prizes, why move to a league barely a decade old, where the level of play paled in comparison to what he’d been used to in England, Spain and the Champions League? The agenda was clear: Beckham was very much moving to LA to be a superstar, with the aim of boosting the league’s global reputation while growing his own celebrity.
Before he even arrived in LA, Beckham’s signing helped the Galaxy secure a landmark $20m sponsorship deal with nutrition company Herbalife, shift 11,000 new season tickets and sell out every luxury box at their stadium for the upcoming season. Instantly, there was a brighter-than-ever spotlight on the Galaxy and MLS. More than 5,000 fans and 700 journalists turned up to his official presentation and the club claimed to have already sold over 250,000 Beckham jerseys.
“We’d typically have five to 10 people from the press at training,” remembers Kyle Martino, the former Galaxy midfielder. “On his first day, the press were lined all the way down one side of the field and there were helicopters flying overhead. It was clear we were in a circus from day one. The first event we had, Will Smith and Tom Cruise threw a party. It was like Madame Tussauds in real life.”
“For players that had never experienced that level of attention before, it was probably a hard adjustment,” says former Galaxy and USMNT star Cobi Jones. “They were a bit wide-eyed. But when you’ve played in World Cups, when it’s like that all the time, and you travel overseas with the national team, there is that…