DAVID Beckham is at the centre of a £12million global tug of war that could make him football’s highest paid player. Becks, 37, yesterday began a bidding battle as he confirmed he will leave current team Los Angeles Galaxy in ten days’ time.
Big-money clubs in China, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, America and France are now ready to break the bank to get the ex-England skipper.
Chinese football giants Shanghai Shenhua are said to be willing to pay Becks more than £350,000 a week to uproot wife Victoria and family from LA.
But they face competition from Aussie clubs Melbourne Hearts and Adelaide United, France’s Paris Saint-Germain, Brazil’s Botafogo, South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs and the New York Cosmos.
The clubs are less interested in Beckham’s ball skills than his ability to boost their global TV audience. Sources in LA said Becks could easily make at least £12million from the deal.
One said: “It doesn’t matter he isn’t the greatest player any more. He makes clubs great in terms of sponsorship. A club could pay him £500,000 a week and it would still be worth it.” The biggest earner in football is 31-year-old Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, who is paid £345,000 a week by Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala.
