Galaxy: Becks to return stateside

The LA Galaxy are set to hold David Beckham to his contract after AC Milan failed to table an acceptable bid for the midfielder.

The potential deal that would see the Galaxy star seal a permanent deal to the Rossoneri, is said to be off after the Serie A giant failed to get an acceptable bid in before the MLS' mandated dealine.

Anchutz Entertainment Group president Tim Leiweke, whose organization owns the Galaxy, was in no mood to meet halfway when interviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

"He will be back here on March 9 and we don't want to entertain any more conversations now," Leiweke said. "It is a distraction to [Galaxy Coach] Bruce Arena, the team and the fans and we move on. That's the last we're going to talk about this."

AC Milan may have taken the deadline for granted. However, Leiweke has closed the door on all negotiations.

"They'll come back. Sure they will. But we owe it to our fans [not to consider it]. They've been reading all these stories and we lose credibility by the day. That's not fair. We owe it to Bruce and we owe it to the rest of the team."

"We're a month away from our season."

Leiweke also stated that Milan never came close to the LA Galaxy's valuation of Beckham.

"They've never been in the ballpark," Leiweke said of Milan meeting the asking price of the former England captain.

The executive seemed to feel that the Galaxy, MLS, and even Beckham had been treated poorly by the Italian club.

"What they've tried to do is use David and use us. We're not going to play that game anymore. This has been extremely damaging and distracting for our team," continued Leikewe. "I've been as courteous and as gracious as I possibly can out of respect for David, but now it's time to move on. We need to get David excited about the team we're building here and coming back."

It is possible that Beckham could fork out some of the transfer fee to pay his way to Milan, considering his wealth, but Leiweke said that this was unlikely.

"I doubt it," Leiweke said. "Nor would I encourage him to even think about that."

Beckham is due to rejoin the Galaxy on March 9.