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Like father like son? Romeo Beckham joins Premiere League club

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 7 Jan 2023, 2:35pm
Romeo Beckham signs his contract with Brentford under the supervision of his father, David. Photo / Brentford FC
Romeo Beckham signs his contract with Brentford under the supervision of his father, David. Photo / Brentford FC

Like father like son? Romeo Beckham joins Premiere League club

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 7 Jan 2023, 2:35pm

Romeo Beckham, the son of England football great David Beckham, will be playing on English soil over the coming months after signing a contract with Premier League club Brentford to play in its reserve team.

Romeo, who currently plays for US team Inter Miami II, the reserve team of the MLS club co-owned by his father, has been training with the Brentford B team as part of his off-season from Major League Soccer (MLS) and has now been announced as a short-term signing for the team through to the end of the English 2022/23 season.

While the 20-year-old is yet to show the pure class of his father - David had already played three seasons of Premier League football for Manchester United by the time he was 20 - the signing has caused a stir amongst the UK football community and has been suitably promoted by his new club.

Accompanying the signing announcement on Saturday, Brentford FC posted a hype video of Romeo in its red and white striped shirt which garnered hundreds of thousands of views within hours.

Alongside the video, a heart-warming photo was released showing David with his hand protectively on the shoulder of Romeo as he signed his new contract.

Romeo himself says he’s excited to play in England and join a group of players he says he already has a strong connection with.

“If you look at Brentford as a club, it’s very positive and it’s a club that is on the rise very quickly. I’m very grateful to be here.” he said in a statement.

 “They are all very talented players, and they drive me to be even better in myself. A few of them give me some kicks and I give them back, but we all come into work hard to get better in ourselves and the coaches drive that.”

Romeo’s Inter Miami CF II team finished sixth in the MLS Next Pro league last season, thanks in part to his league-high 10 goal-assists and two goals. One of those goals bore a remarkable similarity to the ones his father turned into a signature move over the course of his 21-year professional career.

Romeo has only recently returned to focussing on football - he was part of Arsenal’s junior academy as a young teenager - after spending five years playing tennis.

It has been reported that a US$40,000 (NZ$62,994) tennis court was built at a property owned by his parents to aide his tennis dream, before it was summarily demolished and replaced by a football pitch when Romeo decided to return to playing football in 2020.

Brentford B’s next match is scheduled to take place February 3 against Ulsan FC in the Atlantic Cup.

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