BECKHAM CAN BE BIGGER THAN TIGER - LALAS
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Alexi Lalas
Los Angeles Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas believes David Beckham can become bigger than Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan when he moves to the US next month.
The 32-year-old former England captain signed off his four-year Real Madrid career by helping them claim the league title in Spain on Sunday.
And after a holiday with his family he is to head to the Stateside next month to begin his record-breaking five-year deal to play Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy.
Beckham has been playing some exceptional football in the final six months of his stay at the Benabeu which has earned him an international recall and Lalas is backing the former Manchester United midfield star to have a huge impact on the game in the US.
He said: "There will be an interest in Beckham over here that exceeds anything everything else. The US will never have dealt with an athlete who has had this kind of international impact.
"Tiger Woods has that international appeal but with due respect to to Woods and Michael Jordan, David Beckham is at an entirely different level."
Lalas has also dimissed any suggestion that Beckham will be joining an inferior league in the MLS, adding: "That's ignorance of the first degree because every one of those critics has not even seen a single MLS game.
"It's insulting to us and to our sport to say Beckham is on his way to Hollywood when he is coming to play in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
"There are a lot of stars in European football who would struggle over here."
He continued: "There's this delusion that if it's English then it's great. But a whole world exists outside of England.
"That's reflected in the difficulties they had when everyone ran to the Premiership.
"Maybe it's okay for the fan but for the average development of the English player the game is struggling."
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