11 September 2023 , 10:44
807
0
David Beckham helped out Salford City when Ethan Ingram signed for the club on Deadline Day.
Ingram, 20, joined the Ammies from West Brom on a season-long loan as Neil Wood added another member to his squad after a mixed start to the season. He made his senior debut for the Baggies against Arsenal in August 2021 but has made just one first-team appearance since, playing mostly for the club's Under 23s.
Now, Ingram has been sent out on loan and his move to Salford was assisted by the fact he is represented by Beckham's agency, Footwork. Beckham co-owns Salford alongside a number of former Manchester United teammates - including Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
Ingram is one of several professional players part of Footwork - an agency which Beckham started up with close pal Dave Gardner and ex-PR chief Nicola Howson. Alongside this and his role at Salford, Beckham is also the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami.
He has helped transform them into an MLS side and they now have Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba at their disposal. After a tough start to the season, Beckham's Miami are unbeaten in 12 matches and secured a 3-2 win over Sporting KC over the weekend despite the absence of Messi.
MLS side LAFC worth more than 14 Premier League sides after $1bn valuation
As for Salford's Ingram, he has represented England at Under-17, 18 and 20 and will be looking to help transform the Ammies' fortunes around. Salford have won just two of their opening seven League Two matches. Wood's side sit down in 19th on seven points following their 2-1 defeat against Walsall on Saturday.
Salford's Ethan Ingram is represented by David Beckham's agency (Getty Images)However, the Ammies have reached the third-round of the Carabao Cup after beating Championship side Leeds to get to that stage of the competition. They will face Vincent Kompany's Burnley at The Peninsula Stadium for a place in the last 16 later this month.
Speaking after his side's loss on the weekend, Wood said: "I thought first half we were very good, I thought we dominated the game, controlled a lot of the possession and I think it shows you the importance of putting chances away, scoring more goals when you’re on top. For me we should be coming in at half time 3-0 up as a minimum, and we didn’t and we paid the price for it.
"We started the second half slow, we allowed them to put balls onto us and get themselves up the pitch. Then just poor decisions, naive for the first goal especially, then the second goal is a very, very poor goal to concede, and that’s where we’re at at the minute defensively. We need to improve, we need to get better all over the pitch, but we can definitely build on the first half performance."