Debate on the form, and in several cases, ability, of Fernando Torres rumbles on for a 29th consecutive week following a goal-shy, yet assist-laden, performance by the Spanish striker in Chelsea’s 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions’ League last Tuesday. Albeit the £50million signing from Liverpool has failed to replicate his most impressive form of days gone by – 31 goals in 41 appearances for the Reds in his first season in English football – ‘el Nino’ has at least been demonstrating fleeting expressions of remuneration towards the club that invested so heavily in his talent.

That is, arguably, on the pitch. Away from Stamford Bridge, and away from the sunshine-deficient island he lives and works on, Torres is alleged to have made inflammatory assessments of his current team-mates/co-care-home residents in an interview that later appeared on La Liga’s official website and the forward’s own. Chelsea’s ‘internal investigation’ concluded that Torres’ thoughts on the club’s older playing staff “retaining lots of possession” were not as incendiary as initially suggested, perhaps because the ‘pensioners’ do boast an experienced squad who maintain greater possession than the opponents they encounter most weeks. But possibly the most alarming aspect of the brief affair, other than the club’s hierarchy reeling at the completely justified spoken and written judgement of their team’s tactical strategy, was that a reaction was provoked purely because such judgement was articulated by a player.

Marina Hyde (Guardian) underlined this point by reminding us that at present, “players are a corporate cog first, a player second, and a human being perhaps eighth or ninth.” Footballers who regularly verbalize their frustrations and elations have come under intensifying scrutiny of late, as Premier League clubs attempt to curb disruptive behavior within their ranks and preserve as healthy relationship with the public as possible. Darren Bent was fined around £80,000 for tweeting his irritation at having a proposed move from Tottenham stalled a couple of years back, Joey Barton was advertised as a free transfer earlier this summer as Newcastle attempted to cut their loses on a player they deemed too volatile in the public domain/social media circus and therefore harmful to the image of Mike Ashley’s relentlessly ‘pleasant’ Toon administration, and Liverpool youngster, Nathan Ecclestone, has this week encouraged his employers to initiate an investigation in to comments he made regarding 9/11. While Twitter continues to provide an outlet for professional sportspeople and celebrities to broadcast their honest opinions by evading ‘sinister’ and ‘devious’ journalists – as Cesc Fabregas has done so emphatically this week – the trend has provided more consequences for the characters involved than it has freedom of expression; going some way to explaining the theory of footballers as mere ‘corporate cogs.’

And while he remains a world away from the shiny, mid-week, evening floodlights and deafeningly epic anthem of the Champions’ League, no player has represented the ‘corporate cog’ contingent quite like David Beckham. Although the former England captain has successfully maintained control of his private life throughout an impressive career, he, currently, demonstrates the embodiment of a modern professional athlete, much in the same way Jay-Z personifies the essence of a modern professional musician. Both pursued their passions with fervent enthusiasm and managed to exhibit their talents on the greatest stages of their respective fields, and both have notably engaged in projects that transcend the parameters of sport and music, ventures that are charitable as well as lucrative and have laid the blueprint for their pretenders to follow.

Recent speculation has surfaced linking the LA Galaxy midfielder with a move to either Queens Park Rangers or Paris Saint-Germain when the current MLS season, along with Beckham’s contract, expires. Perhaps a few short months ago this story would have raised far fewer eyebrows bearing in mind that both clubs in question represented institutions of a stature that would match Beckham’s deteriorating influence on the field. Today, however, QPR and PSG enjoy significant financial support from Malaysia and Qatar respectively, and both sides wasted little time in supplementing their newly-acquired wealth with a host of squad additions. So what does a 36 year-old who has featured in the fledgling American league for the past four years have to offer an up-and-coming team playing in an elite European league with aspirations of Champions’ League fulfillment?

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Leonardo, a Brazilian World Cup winner and current sporting director at the Parisian outfit provides the answer: “He is more than a football player – he’s a brand, a pop star. I would always consider him.” Eschewing even a modicum of discretion, Leonardo candidly emphasizes the allure of David Beckham being more about financial incentive and brand cognizance than the ‘cog’s’ ability with a football. Sentiments echoed in W12 by Tony Fernandes, the new owner of QPR: “Beckham’s advisers want to talk because our vision is a long-term one, with commercial things David can do with me in Asia.” It wouldn’t be the first time that Beckham, the brand, has been exploited through football for extra-curricular endeavors. On 1st June 2008, the FA cynically appointed Beckham as stand-in England captain for one friendly encounter with Trinidad and Tobago, for the express purpose of courting the favour of then FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, who held an important vote in the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Although the bidding process, along with Warner, have since generated controversy on a far more encompassing scale, the move to appoint Beckham as captain was largely conspicuous seeing as he relinquished his duties as skipper two years previously and had barely featured on the international scene for Fabio Capello or predecessor, Steve McLaren, since the 2006 World Cup.

There’s no doubting Beckham’s pedigree, past or present, seeing as the six-time Premier League winner has featured in 622 professional club matches, scoring 114, assisting an absurd amount more and has gained ardor from Manchester to Madrid and Los Angeles to Milan. Much like at any time in his revered career, he must not be completely written-off, although potential suitors should remain cautious about his capacity to play at a top level again. The danger, however, isn’t whether a gamble on a veteran midfielder will yield a sudden rise up the table or progression to a tournament’s next round, but that we are witnessing the open acceptance of professional athletes as marketing tools, the USPs of developing clubs attempting to forge an identity amongst the big-spending and traditional milestones on the European footballing landscape.

The recent and sudden suppression of players’ public broadcasts by their employers isn’t, as they would have us believe, an effort to shield the fragile fans from internal disillusion nor try to maintain dressing-room decorum or ‘set the right example to kids,’ but because their statuses now represent values far removed from the pitch. As much as the current state of play signifies a natural and predictable juncture in football’s development as an overall entity since the influx of television money in the 1990s, the potential cost to players’ freedom remains unknown, yet appears worryingly unstable at present. No matter where Beckham lends his services to next, his arrival will be met with warranted fanfare. I hope for his sake that his intentions remain consistent, in so far as playing regular competitive football will significantly increase his chances of appearing for Great Britain at next summer’s London Olympics. But it seems more than likely that his next club will reap benefits that far outweigh his personal accomplishments.

Follow Josh Sheridan on Twitter

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