David Beckham: “I wish I could play for Tottenham!”

If you watched Tottenham Hotspur’s comprehensive 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in north London today, then you probably saw one of several times when the camera lingered over David Beckham. Becks was in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, but it wasn’t clear exactly why. Possibly he was scouting one or more players for the inaugural season of Inter Miami in MLS next year. Or, he might have just been there to watch a football match in the best stadium in England.

Either way, he apparently came away very impressed. In a post-match press conference, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said that he spoke with Beckham after the match, and that the England football icon was ready to lace up his boots again and play for Poch.

“I think [the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium] is an amazing stadium. I was talking to David Beckham just now and he said ‘I wish I could still play football and play now for Tottenham because this stadium is amazing’.

“For us it’s so important to make our stadium our home and start to feel comfortable. It’s completely different to White Hart Lane and of course I think with time we are going to feel at home and it’s going to be difficult for opponents to beat us.”

[Reporter] David Beckham said he wishes he could have played here for Spurs?

“Yes, yes, yes. He said ‘I wish I could play here and play for you!’”

Despite his long career and association with Manchester United, Beckham has a close relationship with Tottenham Hotspur. While playing for LA Galaxy towards the end of his playing career, he trained with Spurs for a while ahead of the MLS season. He’s come back a number of times to talk football with Mauricio Pochettino and maintains a close relationship to Spurs. It makes sense — Beckham spent a few early years in Tottenham’s youth system, and he has family members who are huge Tottenham fans.

Elsewhere, Pochettino said that he plans to rotate his Tottenham team going into the next three weeks, a stretch that will see Spurs play seven matches in 21 days, starting with the upcoming midweek Champions League match at Olympiacos. Poch tried to head off potential questions from members of the media who would no doubt wonder about his team selection over the next few days.

“I don’t care if there are injury worries because we are going to rotate anyway because we are after going to play Saturday and then in the Carabao Cup, many games. Of course [we will] be ready, because I’m going to rotate the squad and the team and try to be creative on Tuesday and don’t always ask me the same questions about when some players are not in the squad or team or this player is playing and not another. Please, please.”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but that makes me really excited for some potential roster speculation heading into the next few games.