Premiership: Image-conscious Beckham seeking new-look deal
David Beckham will not be the first player to have an image rights clause in his contract if he signs a new deal with Manchester United.
Beckham and his advisers want it written into any new agreement that United will pay him for the use of his image.
This concept is not entirely new and a number of foreign players in the FA Barclaycard Premiership already receive payments from clubs for the use of their image.
However their earnings from image rights are likely to be eclipsed by those of Beckham, who has just been voted runner-up in FIFA’s World Player of the Year award.
Beckham is one of the most recognisable and marketable faces in world football and the England skipper wants a cut of this.
Leading agent Jon Smith of First Artists explained how image rights works.
‘‘The actual image of you is owned by you,’’ he said. ‘‘Under British law you don’t own the copyright of your own picture.
‘‘You can trademark your name and when we were dealing with Ruud Gullit some time ago we launched ‘Ruudwear’.
‘‘You can copyright the name Ruud and trade on it.
‘‘What players are saying to clubs is that while the use of their image on the pitch for 90 minutes and around the club is acceptable, anything beyond that is their image rights.
‘‘Some of these guys are global superstars and as large as some rock stars.
‘‘Middlesbrough for example have used it on a couple of occasions when they have brought foreign players in.
‘‘They have given them a salary and then they have had to buy the players’ image rights from an offshore company which owns them.
‘‘What the players do is sell their image rights to an offshore company and then clubs pay the company to use them.
‘‘It’s a tax efficient way of paying players.
‘‘David Beckham will probably be the biggest in terms of image rights and his deal will be headline grabbing, but he will not be the first.’’
It is reported the England skipper could receive as much as £20,000 a week or £1m a year on top of a £80,000-a-week salary for his image rights.
Smith claims it is hard to say how much Beckham’s image rights are worth because each player is unique.
‘‘It’s difficult to put a figure on it because everyone is going to be different,’’ he said.
‘‘But David Beckham’s image rights are worth sizably more than most other people in the Premier League.’’
