Romeo Beckham, David Beckham’s most industrious son, has signed with English Premier League club Brentford F.C.’s B Team following a successful loan spell.
Walking in his father’s fabled footsteps, Romeo swaps the sun-soaked south coast of his father’s Miami team for Brentford, a leafy borough in West London, where he spent the second half of last season on loan, lifting the Premier League Cup for the young Bees.
The one-year deal keeps Romeo in London for another season, returning to English football for the first time since leaving Arsenal in 2015, when he famously hung up his boots – albeit temporarily – to try his hand at tennis, aged 12.
But whilst it might be an easy cop-out to bolt to the rooftops singing “There’s only one Nepo Baby!”, given Romeo’s iconic last name and extended hiatus from football, a move to the Premier League via Brentford isn’t the most outrageous notion, all things considered.
WATCH David Beckham kick a football around wearing $1,000 Christian Louboutin dress shoes below.
Why Brentford are taking Romeo Beckham on
When Brentford’s owners first took over in 2012, they realised then, that they had to rethink the way the club was managed in order to compete with the big boys. The temptation for smaller clubs when they secure promotion to the Premier League, is to spend their reported £265m ($500m AUD) bonus on big-name targets, bolstering their squads for the inevitable step up to England’s top tier.
Brentford owner Matthew Benham had to reconsider his approach to club management, instead applying a formulaic approach made famous by the 2011 movie Moneyball starring Brad Pitt. This approach places great emphasis on data analysis – specifically, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – used to determine a player’s worth beyond their initial modest valuation.
”Brentford can’t win by outspending the competition so we have to outthink them.”
Rasmus Ankersen, Brentford Co-Director of Football
This system, when deployed effectively, has allowed teams such as Brentford and Brighton to recruit top talents from all over the world, at a fraction of the cost. And in a time when 19-year-olds such as Jude Bellingham are being signed for €133.9m ($214m AUD) in historic mega deals, the shrewd business could be the most sustainable approach for clubs looking to solidify their position in England’s top-flight.
Brentford’s Moneyball approach has allowed them to not only survive in England’s top tier but thrive on a comparative shoestring budget, finishing this season in the top half of the table narrowly missing out on European qualification by two points.
The signing of Romeo Beckham then, whilst a high-profile acquisition, could prove to be another masterstroke by the Brentford hierarchy, unearthing a hidden gem from the MLS who has the potential to walk his father’s legendary path to England’s Premier League.
At the very least, he’ll bring eyeballs, and that’s good from a marketing perspective…