LOS ANGELES — An agreement that would allow David Beckham to finish the season with AC Milan before reporting to the Los Angeles Galaxy is close to being finalized, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The deal would call for Beckham to miss the first 17 games of the Major League Soccer season before he rejoined the Galaxy in mid-July, the Times reported Monday.
Beckham had been due to report to Los Angeles on March 9. The proposed agreement would allow him to remain with AC Milan until the Italian season ends May 31. If that’s the case, his first appearance of the season with the Galaxy would be on July 18 in New York.
Beckham would remain under contract with the Galaxy until the end of this calendar year, when his buyout clause takes effect. He then would be free to return to AC Milan.
Wild’s Gaborik skating off rust
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Marian Gaborik‘s long recovery from hip surgery got a bit shorter when he returned to the Twin Cities to get ready to rejoin the Minnesota Wild.
The star right wing has missed all but six games this season and had surgery in January to repair a torn labrum and damaged cartilage in his left hip that was causing chronic groin problems.
Gaborik spent the next eight weeks in Colorado to begin rehabilitating, and now is back in St. Paul to ramp up his workouts and return to a team that desperately needs his scoring punch.
“Hopefully it’s going to be towards the end of the month and, hopefully, earlier,” Gaborik said of his return.
• The New Jersey Devils added an experienced defenseman two days before the NHL trade deadline, acquiring Niclas Havelid from the Atlanta Thrashers for rookie defenseman Anssi Salmela.
• Forward Andrew Conboy, suspended by Michigan State this season for an attack on a Michigan player, signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens.
• The Columbus Blue Jackets placed left wing Jason Chimera on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, retroactive to Feb. 24.
• The Carolina Hurricanes will be without Jussi Jokinen indefinitely because the forward has returned to Finland following the death of his father.
Footnotes.
The Oklahoma City Thunder was without leading scorers Kevin Durant (ankle) and Jeff Green (back) against the Dallas Mavericks.
• Forward Caron Butler missed the Washington Wizards’ game against the Atlanta Hawks with tightness in his left hamstring.
• The New York Knicks signed former Nuggets center Cheikh Samb to a 10-day contract.
• Serena Williams wore down sister Venus to win the Billie Jean King Cup, finishing off the return of women’s tennis to Madison Square Garden with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
• The Nike Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., and the Reebok Grand Prix in New York have been selected as U.S. stops in the IAAF’s “Diamond League,” which is scheduled to begin in 2010.
• Jerry Sacharski, a retired teacher who helped popularize T-ball as an organized youth sport, died of natural causes Friday in Albion, Mich. He was 93. The Associated Press
