David Beckham ambassador for Chinese Super League
IMG Senior vice president, Jeff Slack, discusses David Beckham's deal to promote Chinese football and Chinese Super League venture in an ambassadorial role.
Jeff Slack, IMG Senior vice president and Head of Global Football Development:
We've been amazed at the amount of time he's committed. He's committed three trips - roughly a week each trip - and that's an enormous amount of time. Clearly if the guy wanted to stay at home and just do appearances he could make a lot more money than he's going to make doing 20 days in China. So it's really an investment from him in a standpoint that he really does want to build football, and obviously he wants to build as well his persona in China. So you find a very interesting guy, that is clearly interested in developing the sport as well as doing things beyond just sitting at home and counting his money, which he probably could, or most of us might do!"
Jeff Slack, IMG Senior vice president and Head of Global Football Development:
"You would think if you're PSG you'd be very happy to have your most well-known player promoting your club, and himself, in the world's biggest market. So I think the key there is that it doesn't impinge upon his playing commitments, and nothing that we're going to do is going to take away from his commitments as a footballer. The thing about David Beckham, that people in the inside of football know, is that he's a seriously committed footballer."
Jeff Slack, IMG Senior vice president and Head of Global Football Development:
"The Drogba/Anelka thing was really related to the challenges of one particular share-holding at Shanghai Shenhua. They were kind of fighting over who's going to pay him, and things like that. So it did have an impact on the image, but I don't think it detracts from the fact that there are many very, very good players in China now and many wealthy owners who are going to continue to bring good western players, and I think David's just going to be a good emblem of that."