Milan doctors claim they can keep Becks playing till he's 40
TO ANY fan of cult Seventies television shows, the words “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology” will resonate with slow-motion images of Steve Austin showing his prowess as the Six Million Dollar Man.
At a time when Europe’s richest 20 football clubs net almost a billion pounds a year more than the annual £3billion spent on space exploration, however, the focus for bionic men has shifted. And David Beckham is about to reap the consequences.
At 33, the midfielder has already entered the twilight of his career by conventional standards.
Despite England’s loss to Spain on Wednesday, Beckham is still a prize for any top-flight squad, as demonstrated by AC Milan’s tug-of-war with his current employers, US team LA Galaxy.
Galaxy bosses have been adamant Beckham will be staying in California but Italian sources say the nature of his contract with the US team is unusual, because it includes clauses for team publicity and promotion. The fear is that keeping a player to promote a team who has clearly stated he wants to leave would backfire.
In any case, it is highly likely that the player would avail himself of a clause in his contract allowing him to leave at the end of this year, though this would almost certainly ruin any chances of him taking part in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
It is only now, however, that the real truth behind the player’s attraction to the Milan squad is emerging, and it has little to do with the elegant cafes and sumptuous restaurants that line the city’s Via Garibaldi.
Instead, it reveals the same far-sightedness that has made him a player’s player on the pitch, and a strategist to be reckoned with.
Milan can rebuild him.
With its fabled fitness and dietary centre, dubbed The Lab, AC Milan claims to be able to add as many as six years to a player’s career. Long enough for Beckham, who has now matched Sir Bobby Moore’s record of 108 caps, to aspire to Peter Shilton’s 125 appearances and long enough for him to leave his American foray in the dust and become the focus of the European game once more.
His next goal is to stay in the England squad until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when he will be 35.
Along with the comfort of knowing that his wife, Victoria, 34, has fallen in love with Europe’s fashion powerhouse, the midfielder knows that playing with AC Milan means playing alongside team mates his own age, and even older in some cases.
AC Milan can boast a dozen players in their 30s, including Brazilian midfielder Emerson, 32, Australian goalkeeper Zelijko Kalac, 36, defender Giuseppe Favalli, 37, Filippo Inzaghi, 35, and its captain Paolo Maldini, one of Beckham’s newest friends, who is still playing at the seasoned age – in sporting terms – of 40.
It puts the average age of the team at 30-32 if you include Inzaghi, making it the “oldest” top-flight football team in Europe. The average in other clubs is 27. The Milan Lab was started in 2002, following the disastrous £30million transfer of Real Madrid’s Argentinian star Fernando Redondo.
Though seemingly at his physical peak, the player was almost immediately beset with a series of knee injuries which saw him out of the game for two-and-a-half years. Stung by their lost investment bosses at Milan established their magic workshop.
It relies on a blend of close scrutiny of each player and mathematical equation. Data collated on computer software specially designed by Microsoft is analysed by a team of 40 doctors, therapists, trainers, psychologists, nutritionists and chiropractors.
How does it work? “Let’s start by saying there is a general philosophy of prevention of injury,” said Dutch midfield star Clarence Seedorf, 32. “Then the second thing is that there is a personalised approach and finally we use technology instead of personal opinions.”
Milan’s medical director is more direct. “If you can predict the possibility of injuries, you stop the player before he gets hurt,” said Jean Pierre Meersseman.
Each player can clock up six miles in a match, though sprinting power remains the key.
“We are trying to make a system that may say: ‘Now you will run 100 metres. You will rest 43 seconds, then run 80 metres, stop for one minute two seconds and then run 61 metres.’
“The extent of non-traumatic injuries has been reduced by over 90 per cent compared with the previous five years. We have 92 per cent less medication than in the previous years.” Meersseman, a Belgian who, incongruously, is seldom seen without a cigarette in his hand, is so highly rated that his approval is always sought before a player is signed.
“The last signature on the contract before the big boss signs is mine. On many occasions I said no, and I would say that each time that happened, the player did not do very well afterwards,” he said.
And how does the maestro rate Mr Beckham? “David is in great shape,” he said. “He has a very good cardio-vascular system and his physical fitness levels are excellent. All he really needs is a slight adjustment to his fitness regime. I think he could easily be playing for another five or six years.
“We have the oldest team in Europe. Look at Paolo Maldini. He’s 40 and he’s close to perfect.”
The Lab’s system has raised the maximum age of a top-class football player from 34 to 40, he added. “It is comprehensive. We test our players to their limits in every aspect, physically and mentally. David is slightly behind the others right now but it won’t take long until he is up to scratch.”
When it comes to Peter Pans of football, Beckham has a long way to go. The official record for oldest player is held by John Ryan, the owner of Doncaster Rovers. He brought himself on as substitute in the last minute of a game in 2003 aged 52 years, 11 months, although he didn’t touch the ball.
New Brighton goalkeeper Neil McBain did, however, playing at Hartlepool in a Division 3 North game in March 1947 aged 51 years, 4 months.
“Fitness-wise Milan’s done me the world of good,” said Beckham. “I’m a lot fitter than I was a few months back and even in the month and a half I’ve been there my fitness has gone up 100 per cent. That’s the biggest thing. And I’m enjoying my club football which is great. I like playing football at its highest levels and if I want to keep doing it I have to stay here.”
The tracksuits may have changed since 1974, and six million dollars certainly does not have as much buying power today, especially for a team that raked in £209.5million last year. It’s also true that the Milan Lab is not promising to create players who run at 60 miles an hour.
But Oscar Goldman might just have been talking about David Beckham when he proclaimed of Steve Austin: “Better…stronger… faster.”
