David Beckham spent the past eight days in Miami with his family on holiday, enjoying the beaches, jet skis, boat rides and their first trip to the Everglades. He also took the opportunity to get some work done with his Inter Miami partners as they prepare for their March 2020 launch.
Sunday afternoon, more than five years after announcing his intention to bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami, Beckham was at Central Broward Regional Stadium, watching his club's 150 hand-picked youth academy players as they scrimmaged. Having grown up in the Manchester United Academy, the development of local players is extremely important to Beckham.
He called it "a proud moment" meeting players such as Snyder Fils-Aime, an 18-year-old from Little Haiti, and the Hicks brothers from Homestead _ 13-year-old Elijah and 12-year-old Ezra. Elijah was recently invited to the Trinidad and Tobago youth national team.
Afterward, Beckham and co-owner Jorge Mas met with reporters and brought them up to date on the latest front-office developments.
Mas reiterated that Lockhart Stadium, expected to be done by February 2020, is only a temporary stadium, and that he expects to be playing at Miami Freedom Park in 2022. "We've knocked out every obstacle we've had," Mas said. "With First Tee and the golf issue, I made a commitment to help them transition to a new location. We've done that. We've had a handful of lawsuits, knocked those out. Our next hurdle is getting a lease in front of the City Commission and I hopefully will have that in the next 45 days and am very optimistic we'll get a 5-0 vote."
The team has narrowed down its player wish list, and plans to announce the first of three major signings in the next two months. Beckham has personally talked with about two dozen players, and co-owner Mas met with two key targets. They plan to sign three "Designated Players," who do not count toward the league's mandated salary cap. They will be top-level recognizable names, but Beckham assured they will still be in their prime.
"I've been doing a lot of vetting," Beckham said. "We all know how great Miami is as a place to live with your family, but we don't want players just coming here at the end of their career thinking, 'Oh, let's go have a couple of years in Miami and I'll play a little bit of soccer.' That's not what we want. We want players who are hungry, who have played at the top level but still want to win. I'm lucky I've played in many different teams, many different countries with many different players, and they're actually calling me daily. It's a good problem to have."
They also have been scouring the world for young, up-and-coming talent. Among the players on their radar is 19-year-old George Acosta, a Miami-born midfielder who played at Miami Lakes and Weston FC and is currently with Boca Juniors' reserve team in Argentina. He has played on the U.S. Under 15, Under 17, and Under 19 teams.
Beckham, who scored an impressive goal in a Manchester United charity game last weekend, was asked if he'd consider coming out of retirement.
He smiled, and replied: "Has there ever been a player-owner? Obviously, I enjoyed playing last week. Dusting off the boots. I explained to my kids, and I'll explain to my academy kids as well, even at 44 years old, six weeks before the game I was preparing, playing games, working out, being stretched a lot because 44 years old. I prepared exactly the same as I did when I was 21.
"Can I still play? Yeah, maybe I can still play. I miss it every single day. I don't think you can play the sport you loved for as many years I played and not miss it, even at my age. The strange thing is, I always turn around to one of my friends and say, 'Maybe I should go back,' and he's like 'Really? C'mon. let it go.' But that's my mentality. When I'm out on the pitch and I play a good ball, I'm like, 'Maybe I should play again.' So, I do go through those moments. I think it's out of the question. But ... we'll see how the signings go. If we're struggling, you never know.'
Beckham confessed he had "no idea" how difficult it would be to start his team.
"I honestly thought it would announce a team and we'd be up and playing in a year," he said. "Not because of who I am, just because I felt there had been such a movement in this country, in MLS, for this sport that I just assumed it would be pretty easy to start a team. But there were mistakes made over those six years and not being a local, it's like someone coming into London and saying, 'Oh, there's a nice piece of land next to Buckingham Palace, we'll just build a stadium there.' So, I can understand the people's frustrations. But we're in such a good place now, such a strong position to give these kids a real opportunity."
He said he never considered giving up on Miami.
"Of course, there were frustrating moments, but I always knew it was worth it, and I always knew this was the place," Beckham said. "That's why I never walked away. That's why I never, ever turned around and said, 'I'm done' because I knew this was the right place."
