It’s ok, you can sleep at night again. Sam Allardyce may have finally figured out why David Beckham opted for the LA Galaxy instead of returning to the Premiership with Bolton. You may have thought that a massive international market and 500K a week. But you’d be wrong.
“I was serious about bringing Beckham to Bolton because when it became clear he was available I hoped that he was keen on coming back to the Premiership,” said Allardyce.
“He is 31 now but all his stats suggest to me that he is still a world class player and he would have been a major asset and influence both on and off the pitch at Bolton.
“The move would have probably paid for itself such is David’s corporate influence within football but the fact was that the only Premiership club he would have come back to was Manchester United.”
“Maybe things would have been different had David still been involved with England,” added Allardyce.
“If he still had an international career to think about then perhaps he would have put aside that loyalty he feels to Manchester United and played for another English club.”
So true. Because the international careers of players like Kevin Nolan have only benefited from being at Bolton. Allardyce may have done well to bring the high profile but despised Diouf and high profile but despised Anelka, but convincing Becks that his final years should have been at the Reebok probably needed a little more incentive than playing in McClaren’s crap England team.
Admittedly, for a team already so effective from long passes and set pieces, we would have been a little curious to see how far Beckham would have taken them.