Whether he was simply being polite, or actually illustrating a desire to stay beyond 2011, David Beckham's recent comments stating he wouldn't rule out a return to MLS in 2012 had to raise a few eyebrows.
Not because another year of Beckham would be some great windfall for Major League Soccer, but because it has grown more and more apparent that MLS doesn't really need him anymore.
Yes, he can still sell some tickets, and can still be one of the better players in MLS when he's on his game, but Beckham is playing in a far different league than the MLS he joined in 2007, when confetti cannons showered his arrival and he was seen as someone who could make MLS relevant.
Four years have come and gone and while he did pack stadiums, sold jerseys by the truckload, and helped MLS gain exposure like it hadn't before, Beckham's work is all but done and a league that once needed the boost that he could provide is doing just fine.
Four years after Beckham's arrival, MLS is a stronger league, a thriving league. Five expansion teams have set up shop and four brand new soccer stadiums will have been opened by the end of this season, the final one of Beckham's original five-year contract with MLS. Salaries have increased and the overall quality of international talent coming into the league has increased.
Beckham's accomplishments during that same time frame haven't been nearly as impressive. In fact, before this season, he had played about the same number of matches playing for the England national team and AC Milan, where he spent two loan spells, than he had with the Galaxy.
Consecutive loans to Milan made it easy to question his commitment to the Galaxy, a feeling only magnified this winter when he chose to train with English club Tottenham rather than arriving at Galaxy pre-season camp on time.
All that said, you can't really call Beckham MLS a flop or a bust, not in the way some past stars have flopped, or even in the way Thierry Henry's tenure in MLS is starting to look. Yes, Beckham could have played more games, and not taken those loans to Milan, but when he's been here he's played hard, and at times, he's been about as brilliant as most would have expected him to be.
Unfortunately, Beckham has never quite seemed fully committed to the MLS cause, always looking like someone who left Europe too early, someone who clearly longed for a return to the world's top leagues. Someone who missed the competition, the quality and the pressure.
MLS got along just fine even with a distracted Beckham. New investors kept buying in and new markets kept being established. Even the Galaxy did fine without him, winning the 2010 MLS Supporters Shield despite the fact that Beckham missed most of the regular season.
Is Los Angeles better off with Beckham on the team? Right now you can say so, especially if Beckham is ready to commit fully and play an entire season. Even though his early season has had its ups and downs, and a league-high five yellow cards, Beckham still helps Los Angeles even if his lack of speed limits what the Galaxy can do.
Beckham makes the Galaxy better right now, but would a new contract really make sense for a player who turns 36 in May? For a player coming off a torn Achilles that has made him even slower? Would Beckham really entertain signing for anything less than a Designated Player contract, and would the Galaxy really consider giving him a DP contract?
That wouldn't really make much sense at all, at least not for the Galaxy. It actually does make some sense for Beckham. Why wouldn't you want to re-sign for big money to play for a team that has let you do whatever you've wanted to do for the past four years? Who wouldn't want to keep that arrangement?
The fact is neither the Galaxy or MLS needs that arrangement anymore. Five years will have been plenty of time for Major League Soccer to squeeze every bit of impact out of Beckham the player. All anybody should do is let Beckham focus on finishing out his MLS contract with a strong last season, and potentially the trophy he has yet to deliver to the Galaxy.
And after that? Let Beckham keep chasing his English national team delusions in Europe, or see if Beckham is serious about wanting to invest in MLS as an owner. David Beckham the owner could certainly be of some value to the league, but Beckham the player? Five years is enough.
Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering Major League Soccer and the U.S. national team.
