Leiweke Sure That Beckham Will Return

• L.A. Times, Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2 PM

Back on the West Coast, Anschutz Entertainment Group Chief Executive Tim Leiweke insisted that David Beckham "loves" Los Angeles, and that his move to MLS has been a success. He said that the player will be returning to the team, despite MLS Commissioner Don Garber saying Tuesday that the league would talk about a permanent transfer of Beckham to Milan under the right circumstances.
 
"David is under contract to the Galaxy, and I had a good, straightforward conversation with him before he left and he loves it in L.A.," Leiweke told TJ Simers. "He wants a better Galaxy team, we're going to have a better team and David has no interest in going. We have a contract, we have a handshake, his kids go to school here, end of story. There is no story. He's going to return to the Galaxy."

Leiweke described Beckham as "a world-class impactful player, and it's still a very good move for soccer here. And he's proving me right if you watched the goal he scored for Milan the other day. I look at attendance, teams coming into the league, TV ratings, and we wouldn't do any of that without David. We [the Galaxy] will not succeed here with Beckham until we win on the pitch, but we're going to be in position to do that this season."

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