David Beckham joined MLS‘s LA Galaxy in 2007 on a widely publicized five-year, $32 million deal that was originally reported to be worth as much as $250 million.
Decimal points aside, the English soccer legend was being paid handsomely to defect from Real Madrid, and there was mounting pressure for him to produce in LA. But after getting a taste for Northern Italy while on loan with AC Milan in 2008, Beckham was dragging his heels about returning to the US for another MLS season. He wanted to stay in Italy, where the prestigious team and league were more befitting to his illustrious career.
‘Even though it’s a s***ty little MLS team that he doesn’t really care about… it meant a lot to me,’ his LA Galaxy teammate and former USMNT captain Landon Donovan said in the new Netflix documentary, Beckham.
The four-part docuseries’ final chapter holds particular relevance for MLS fans by giving an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the Beckham-Donovan feud, their resolution, and the team’s remarkable turnaround.
‘Winning the MLS cup was probably one of the most rewarding moments of my career,’ Beckham said to the cameras in episode 4.
Landon Donovan, 41, and David Beckham, 48, come clean about their feud in new Netflix doc
Donovan (left) and Beckham were not only the faces of the LA Galaxy, but the MLS as well
Both Donovan, 41, and Beckham, 48, appear to be on better terms these, thanks in large part to their 2011 and 2012 MLS Cup victories.
But three years prior, Donovan became the first of Beckham’s teammates to really criticize him, publicly. Until then, Beckham was accustomed to private mediation with teammates and coaches, only to discover that things were done differently in the US.
‘Landon felt that I had abandoned the team,’ Beckham told Netflix. ‘I don’t think he handled it in the right way. Whatever goes on in the changing room, stays in the changing room. If you have got something to say, say it to my face.’
‘It was frustrating, really frustrating, because I felt if we’re going to deal with all the other s***, he’d better show up and play,’ Donovan said, referring to the Galaxy’s accommodations for Beckham and the increased media scrutiny. ‘That’s the least that he can do.’
Former team executive Tim Leiweke put it more succinctly.
‘No, sorry David,’ Leiweke told Netflix about sending Beckham to Milan permanently. ‘We owned him. We’re not doing it. Period.’
Donovan (left) and Beckham met President Obama in 2012 along with their Galaxy teammates
Beckham did enjoy a second transfer to Milan in 2009-2010, but continued playing in the summers for LA, where he was ripped as a ‘part-time player.’
‘They obviously were really upset about me,’ Beckham said. ‘By the way, I agree with them, I would feel exactly the same so I get it but I wasn’t going to take that from my own fans.’
‘We said ”f*** this s***,”’ Leiweke added. ‘We were not a team and this ain’t the circus.’
The issues lingered until Galaxy coach Bruce Arena called both sides together.
‘Our coach sends me and David a text and says: ‘I want to speak to you both in the morning before practice,’ Donovan explained.
‘I said: ”David, what I said I believe and I felt, it’s my truth. I should never have said that publicly, I should have just said it to you and I’m sorry.”
‘If I’d been on that side of the table, I’d have said ”f*** you,”’ Donovan continued. ”’I can’t believe you did this to me.” But he said…’
David Beckham and Landon Donovan of the celebrate after Donovan’s penalty in 2009
The shot then cuts back to Beckham.
‘I get it and I respect that you’re saying that to me,’ the Inter Miami minority owner said.
To drive home the point about how Donovan felt about the LA Galaxy, Arena relied on an easily relatable analogy.
‘Then our coach said something I’ll never forget to David,’ Donovan said. ‘He said: ”For Landon, this is his Manchester United. You grew up at Man United, for David that is everything.”’
‘This is what you care about, I get it,’ Beckham said, referring to Donovan. ‘I remembered my responsibility to the MLS and to my family. I had to make it work.’
Donovan was satisfied with that answer: ‘I could feel it, he was on a mission and I was on a mission.’
‘All of a sudden, we were a team,’ Beckham said.
The 2011 season was a dream for Galaxy fans. Donovan scored 12 goals in 23 games, while Beckham racked up 13 assists in 26 appearances.
Donovan and Beckham are pictured together in the 2012 MLS Cup against Houston Dynamo
And against Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup final, Donovan scored the game’s only goal on a setup by Robbie Keane and, of course, Beckham himself.
‘Landon and David put their s*** to one side, stopped bitching at each other and started playing,’ Leiweke said. ‘Then everything clicked. We were a frigging football club. I loved that team, they were f***ing warriors.’
‘Winning the MLS cup was probably one of the most rewarding moments of my career,’ Beckham said. ‘I think I stood there on the pitch and went, ‘it worked.’
‘I didn’t obviously say that.’
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