IMG-R target David Beckham not to play in their tournament, but interested in being an owner

Rumours emerged yesterday out of the UK that former England captain, and the poster boy of international football, David Beckham could be the most high profile target of the upcoming IMG-Reliance tournament early next year, though Beckham only recently retired from active football after last playing for FC Paris Saint-Germain.

After having checked with contacts in England who are close to David Beckham, I can confirm that Beckham so far has not been approached by anyone in connection with the IMG-Reliance tournament. Also, for Beckham, his playing days are definitely over, which means he would not be available to play in the tournament.

Further, I was told that Beckham, who just has been to Miami to check out if he could launch a Major League Soccer franchise in the sunshine state of the United States, could be interested to own or be part of a consortium to run one of the franchisees of the new proposed IMG-Reliance tournament.

It will be interesting to see if IMG-Reliance actually can bring David Beckham in some sort of way on board for the new tournament. If they do, marketing and publicity-wise, it would be the deal which could make the tournament a real success, but someone like Beckham has his price. Whether India is ready to pay big bucks will have to be seen.