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How everyone`s a winner in this Real deal: Indian Express
New Delhi, June 19: Fittingly, for a deal involving the world`s two biggest football clubs and the most high-profile player, there was more at stake than mere footballing skills when David Beckham left Manchester United for Real Madrid.
New Delhi, June 19: Fittingly, for a deal involving the world’s two biggest football clubs and the most high-profile player, there was more at stake than mere footballing skills when David Beckham left Manchester United for Real Madrid.
Though it was only the 12th-largest transfer of all time in sheer money terms (a total of $41 million), the deal is several times bigger when the ancillary aspects are taken into account.
For purely footballing reasons, Real Madrid didn’t need Beckham; their requirement was a more defensive footballer than the attacking winger. But Real are thinking long-term, wide-vision: the world’s most successful club are clearly No. 2 to Manchester United in marketing terms, largely because of the latter’s merchandising. United are able to sell all the shirts, scarves and other goodies on the strength of their players’ star appeal, and there’s no star bigger than Beckham. Zinedine Zidane may be the world’s best footballer but on the streets of Seoul or Tokyo, where the Japanese and Koreans spend their yen and won, he’s a virtual nobody.
While covering the world Cup in Korea and Japan last year, this reporter saw hundreds of children, their hair dyed and styled like Beckham’s — and wearing his trademark No. 7 shirt. That huge market — which includes China and South-East Asia — is what Real want to tap into, and Beckham is the key.
So have United lost the Asian market? Far from it; their presence in Asia has already been established and it will only take another star — say, goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy or possibly the Brazilian Ronaldinho, whom they are trying to sign on — to turn on the magic again.
What about the unsold Beckham shirts? Well, they’ve effectively sold these till 2015: that’s when their $500-million contract with sportswear firm Nike — which manufactures their playing kit — runs out. Till then, they rake in the money, Beckham or not.
Nike could, indeed, have played a larger role in the transfer. Beckham’s personal sponsors are adidas, which means he must wear their shoes and other accessories; this, in United’s publicity shots, clashed with the official Nike jersey and shorts. It’s no coincidence, then, that Real Madrid are fitted out by adidas.
Nor is it a coincidence that another of Madrid’s sponsors are Pepsi, whose clientele includes — yes, David Beckham.
There is a bit of football involved somewhere. But it’s been bent along the way, like the free-kicks of David Beckham.
Though it was only the 12th-largest transfer of all time in sheer money terms (a total of $41 million), the deal is several times bigger when the ancillary aspects are taken into account.
For purely footballing reasons, Real Madrid didn’t need Beckham; their requirement was a more defensive footballer than the attacking winger. But Real are thinking long-term, wide-vision: the world’s most successful club are clearly No. 2 to Manchester United in marketing terms, largely because of the latter’s merchandising. United are able to sell all the shirts, scarves and other goodies on the strength of their players’ star appeal, and there’s no star bigger than Beckham. Zinedine Zidane may be the world’s best footballer but on the streets of Seoul or Tokyo, where the Japanese and Koreans spend their yen and won, he’s a virtual nobody.
While covering the world Cup in Korea and Japan last year, this reporter saw hundreds of children, their hair dyed and styled like Beckham’s — and wearing his trademark No. 7 shirt. That huge market — which includes China and South-East Asia — is what Real want to tap into, and Beckham is the key.
So have United lost the Asian market? Far from it; their presence in Asia has already been established and it will only take another star — say, goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy or possibly the Brazilian Ronaldinho, whom they are trying to sign on — to turn on the magic again.
What about the unsold Beckham shirts? Well, they’ve effectively sold these till 2015: that’s when their $500-million contract with sportswear firm Nike — which manufactures their playing kit — runs out. Till then, they rake in the money, Beckham or not.
Nike could, indeed, have played a larger role in the transfer. Beckham’s personal sponsors are adidas, which means he must wear their shoes and other accessories; this, in United’s publicity shots, clashed with the official Nike jersey and shorts. It’s no coincidence, then, that Real Madrid are fitted out by adidas.
Nor is it a coincidence that another of Madrid’s sponsors are Pepsi, whose clientele includes — yes, David Beckham.
There is a bit of football involved somewhere. But it’s been bent along the way, like the free-kicks of David Beckham.