Come on, hands up, who else is sick and tired of the campaign that seems to be gathering, apace, to shift David Beckham off to foreign climes? The story dominated the end of the regular season, it dominated the pre-close season England games and even overshadowed preparation for the game against Slovakia and no sooner was that crucial game successfully put to bed than we were off again with unauthorised biographies promising to 'lift the lid on Posh and Becks'.
But for me THE gut wrenching, lung-busting guffaw generating, and most tenuous of news items related to the Beckham saga was the suggestion, in one newspaper, that because David has been seen, since the end of the season, decked-out in all kinds of WHITE apparel; shirts, shorts, socks, tee shirts, vests, teeth etc, etc, he was sending some kind of subliminal message that he was off to Real Madrid, a team that is world famous for, wait for it, their white strip.
In this longest-running story since the farce over Wembley I do not recall EVER hearing or reading the player say he wants to leave Manchester United. David Beckham has never asked for a move.
He has two years left on his contract and does not have to move, unless of course you throw in the 'wild-card' that his club would lose a fortune if Beckham was allowed to leave on a Bosman, so it would be in their best interests, financial of course, if he was sold while he still had some residual value.
Sorry, that would seem to regard the England captain as a 'second-hand' car but that is exactly the analogy PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor used when he slammed Manchester United's treatment of the player.
Then of course we have the rumours that Beckham and his manager have not spoken for two months. True or not has not more than half of that period been taken up with the weeks since Manchester United's last game. And, right or wrong, neither player nor manager has confirmed or denied the 'silent suggestion'.
Whatever dislike for Becks' lifestyle Sir Alex Ferguson may harbour, and again I have never read or heard the words, or suggestion, uttered by Fergie that he does not approve of David's lifestyle, the Scot is far too professional to judge Beckham on anything other than what he does on the park.
There's an irony here, for me anyway, that the only negative assessment of a Beckham performance, by his club manager, is attributed to comments after the FA Cup defeat by Arsenal when there was implied criticism of the player's failure to track back and defend.
I say it's an irony for me because in the dozens of games I saw Beckham play, over the last two years, it constantly amazed me just how much tracking back he did, particularly into the right-back slot. And I remember mumbling, on more than a few occasions, how impressive that was and how important a contribution to the team effort such play was. As he has done time and time again for England.
Barcelona, Madrid or Milan, who knows? The latest media claim is that Beckham has played his last game for Manchester United, Real are planning to hijack the Barca bid and AC Milan can't afford him, although we still read that the Italians are prepared to pay Andrei Shevchenko £1million to give up his number seven shirt! Where's it all going to end?
There have also been suggestions that the well-publicised promise by would-be Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been a political ploy to curry favour with the football mad Catalans. Whether or not it works can only be determined after Sunday's election although it seems that the player, if he HAS to move, seems to favour Real Madrid or AC Milan.
Now, with the best will in the world, Beckham does not need a mountain of Euros to boost his personal fortune so the basis of any decision to leave Old Trafford would have to be for career or family reasons. If he signs for Barcelona he will not be playing in the Champions League next season, a move to Real or AC would guarantee that and, as a professional footballer, who has won all the game's major club honours, it's doubtful that the England captain would want a season without playing in the European Cup.
At the end of the day, a move for David Beckham, to La Liga or Serie A, can do nothing but improve the skills and talents he has honed at the highest level, domestically, for a decade. He has probably got as good as he can get, in English football, and the added attributes that he would gain from playing in Spain or Italy would be of massive benefit to the England cause as the national side try to convert the massive potential there is in Sven's young squad into a trophy winning team, on the international stage.
But for goodness sake, the choice to move, and where to, should be David Beckham's alone and based on football criteria.
