Thursday 22 September 2016 11:45, UK
Odell Beckham Jr has come through his own Diego Simeone scandal, but hasn’t yet had the opportunity to bury his darkest moment.
Beckham Jr, the fresh-faced gridiron superstar, revealed a shockingly petulant side to his clean-cut character last season that his more famous namesake may sympathise with. A bewildered Beckham Jr lashed out, and Josh Norman collapsed where Argentina's Simeone once fell.
New York Giants' Beckham Jr has been spared the vitriol aimed at England's 1998 World Cup hope in the aftermath of his own toxic altercation, thankfully. But nor has he redeemed himself in the sensational fashion of the former Manchester United icon - this weekend, Beckham Jr has his first chance to build bridges.
Norman, his great nemesis, has followed him into the NFC East by swapping the Carolina Panthers for the Washington Redskins (with the generous help of a $75m handshake) meaning this weekend's divisional fixture sets up the most intriguing one-on-one rematch in the sport.
Their story, by now, feels like silver screen material: Beckham Jr in the role of the grinning, confident wide receiver and Norman playing the villainous cornerback, eager to tear down the NFL's hottest young talent.
The tone had been set when Norman spearheaded a group of baseball bat-wielding Panthers players to gesture towards Beckham Jr as he warmed up, last December. Beckham Jr duly dropped a sitter in the opening moments, before becoming embroiled in a personal contest against Norman so violent that it overstepped the decent mark. The nastiest point came when Beckham Jr, whose red mist had descended for the first time in his one-and-a-half pro seasons, snapped Norman's head back with a heinous helmet-first tackle.
David Beckham, after kicking Simeone, rebounded to lead England past Argentina at the next World Cup. The man who has rebranded the surname must do the same when faced by Norman if he is to evolve into the face of American sport, as he has threatened to do.
The GQ Magazine photo-shoots, penchant for attention-seeking haircuts and awareness of his own personal brand suggest Beckham Jr has more in common with his namesake than merely a surname. Norman is a road-block threatening to derail Beckham Jr's path to reforming his reputation, and he knows it.
"I don't care for the guy at all," Norman said in Panthers Rising, a book about Carolina's 2015 season. "Now don't get me wrong, he's a good player or whatever, but he's not what he thinks he is.
"If you hit guys like that, if you completely jam them and shake them up, they can't relate to that. So they start making excuses like 'oh, he touched me'. So me, every time I see him, I'm going to hit him in the mouth. I don't care. Until he stops crying."
Beckham Jr's style is less abrasive, but carries a sinister undertone. Visiting Sky Sports during the off-season, he was asked who the NFL's best cornerback is. Straight-faced, he named Patrick Peterson, who he has never even faced.
Beckham Jr would be within his rights to point out that, during that fateful defeat to the Panthers, he actually evaded Norman to score a game-tying touchdown in the dying minutes. The result never went his way, but the last picture of Beckham Jr and Norman together captured the Giants receiver stepping over the prone body of his outfoxed rival. He must do so again this weekend to end the Norman chapter of his career.
Washington Redskins @ New York Giants is on Sunday at 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports 2 HD.
