Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed that he tried to sell David Beckham the dream of taking Leicester City back to the Premier League in the twilight of his career, only to see the idea shot down by Victoria.
Beckham spent five years plying his trade in the United States for LA Galaxy towards the back end of his career. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid winger made 124 appearances for the MLS side in total, but also joined AC Milan on loan twice to retain a connection with the European game.
Eriksson and Beckham enjoyed a good relationship with England, who the Swedish manager took charge of from 2001 to 2006. Beckham won 56 of his 115 international caps and scored all but one of his 17 goals under Eriksson and that connection could have led to reunion at then-Championship side Leicester.
Eriksson was Leicester manager for a year, from October 2010, and made an audacious attempt to try and get the former England captain to leave Los Angeles for the East Midlands. Victoria, though, wasn’t having any of it.
“I asked him at a football event, and he was there with his wife. Before dinner we stood talking to each other,” Eriksson said on the Sacked in the Morning podcast. “I was at Leicester at the time, so I said to him: ‘When your contract finishes in the United States, why don’t you come back to England, sign for Leicester and take us up to the Premier League?’
“He said: ‘Maybe, yeah,’ because he doesn’t want to say no. Then Victoria says: ‘Sven, can you see me in Leicester?’ I said: ‘Well, maybe not.’ Finished discussion about Leicester.”
At the time, Eriksson was open about his big plans, telling Sky Sports: "The owners want a big signing. It is interesting the players that have been mentioned. I made phone calls to more or less all of them. Most of them, they don't really want to come to our league. If we get to the Premier League it will be much easier to get these players. But we are trying and the owners are happy to back me.
"If you talk about Beckham, of course I should take Beckham but I don't think he will go anywhere. I spoke to his agent to see if there was a small chance, but he said it was not possible."
It wasn’t to be for Beckham at Leicester, but Eriksson did manage to sign a whopping 25 players during his short stint at Leicester. Among them were Kasper Schmeichel, David Nugent and Paul Konchesky, who later went on to win the Championship in the 2013/14 season. After leaving Leicester by mutual consent in October 2011, Eriksson left for China, where he took charge of Guangzhou R&F, Shanghai SIPG and Shenzhen.
Beckham enjoyed the MLS lifestyle until 2013, when he concluded his storied playing career with a stint at Paris Saint-Germain - a side more in-keeping with his image and family needs.. Now 47, the former winger’s love affair with the USA continues: he is co-owner of MLS franchise Inter Miami.
