Goldenballs' glitter is fading fast. David Beckham's move the LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer, spells out more clearly than anything else, that his days as one of the world's best footballers are clearly over. With his footie no longer a priority, Beckham has entered a new phase of his life and while that's to be respected, it's still a tragic end for football's most famous face.

In the hours following the announcement of the deal, I heard people talking about Beckham in past tense, debating whether or not he'd been a great player or merely good. Did he underachieve? Or did he make the most of his potential? The point is, telling Europeans that you're going to play in the MLS is like saying that you're going to inject yourself with a slow acting poison and see how long it takes you to die.

That might be unfair to the MLS, which is quite possibly not as weak a league as most Europeans believe, but let's face it. Americans are hardly as soccer savvy as their European counterparts. It's simply a question of culture.

Contrary to most, I don't think this move was all about the money. Although I do think money was a huge part of it.

Who wouldn't accept a million dollars a week to do your job and get away with doing it sloppily? Never again will Beckham be faced with the pressure that he experienced at Real Madrid or captaining England, to say nothing of his years at Manchester United where he lived in permanent fear of Sir Alex's infamous hair dryer treatment.

No, Beckham's move was forced. This is the flip side to being a brand onto yourself. Your every move is determined by appearances. When he was forced out of Man Utd, there were not a million and one places that he could have ended up without taking a knock to his popularity.

Real Madrid was a workable option because it is as big a club (at least historically) as Manchester United. However, leaving Real, especially given his current form, was a trickier prospect. Italian football is not the place for Becks, which is just as well because none of Serie A's major sides need him anyway.

A return to a second tier English club would never do and none of the top four clubs in the Premiership need and/or can afford him. Besides which, Beckham has such a love/hate relationship with his country, has gotten so much stick over the years, that it's perfectly understandable that he'd want to stay away.

Furthermore, let's not forget the role of the missus. Posh has been driving her husband's career for a long time now. She is quite possibly the main reason that Becks and Sir Alex fell out in the first place. Conquering the USA has long been a dream of hers and she's done everything to make it come true. From designing clothes to becoming Katie Holmes' official sidekick, Posh is, to put it politely, a professional attention seeker.

The move to LA is a gamble, not in terms of his football, because clearly that is a forgone casualty, but in terms of the Beckham brand.

In my opinion, Becks' popularity has suffered quite a lot. It's the nature of football. Once you get to a certain age, the pre teens that drooled over your posters on the wall, move on and find some one, younger, cuter, and more talented.

Just look at how Cristiano Ronaldo has made himself at home in Becks' old number 7 shirt at Man Utd.

One of the main reasons, presumably, that Beckham is going to be paid this absurd amount of money, (and it is obscene) is because the Galaxy and the MLS and Adidas right along with them, believe that they are going to be selling every product under the sun with Beckham's name on it.

That might work in Asia and in a few other places, but with the move stateside Beckham is losing a lot of credibility in the world of football.

When Real Madrid bought him at the back end of 2003, the 20 million pound transfer fee and the approximately 120,000 euros a week were an investment on which a return could be expected.

There is no way on earth that the Galaxy will see a return on their $250 million, if for no other reason than because I doubt Beckham is physically capable of playing for another five years, too say Too say nothing of what this could do to the development of the game in the USA.

I believe that Becks does have good intentions. His work rate and professionalism have very rarely been called into question, however, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I think the main problem is going to be the expectations that come along with that $250 million price tag. American sports are about entertainment. European football is about results, and those rare coaches and players that can combine the two are the gods of Planet Football.

Beckham may have been a commercial god, but he was never in the class of the Ronaldhinho's and Zidane's of this world. So, if MLS fans are expecting to see flicks and tricks, elasticos and roulettes, they are going to be sorely disappointed.

Beckham's one true talent as a footballer, the one thing that has always set him apart and where he truly is world class, is his ability on set pieces and dead balls. His crosses and free kicks have a purity to them that very few can match. His vision is extraordinary.

He'll get, on average, anywhere between 10 and 15 goals a season. So don't expect to see a Ronaldo-type arrive and start notching up the goals. Unless of course, defenders in the MLS are planning to roll over and play dead.

There is a very strong possibility that this could go pear shaped for everyone involved. It saddens me to see a player like Beckham, who while he will never been a legend the way Marco Van Basten is a legend, was a cut above a lot of others, end his career this way. And how ever you want to paint it, this is the end of Beckham's career. Whatever he does or does not accomplish in the MLS is unlikely to change that.

Bye Bye Beckham, it was nice knowing you.