The biggest story in MLS this season has undoubtedly been the arrival David Beckham; heartthrob, ball bender, Spice Girl slayer and generally the most marketable media personality that isn't drawn in yellow in the known universe.

Sure, MLS scored a knockout in public relations, and I'll admit to being a little bit excited about the games he's been involved in, but so has New York. And I don't mean the Red Bulls, I mean the city. All you have to do is witness the 65,000+ that came to the Meadowlands to see his debut.

But David Beckham? I say "big deal" with the news out of Dallas Thursday afternoon.

He may have gone from being the biggest signing ever to the biggest bust ever when he flamed at Real Betis, but Denílson de Oliveira Araújo was, and always will be known to me as: Best. Dribbler. Ever.

"Bend it Like Beckham" was nice, but how about "Dribble Like Denílson"? What does the flashy winger think of MLS' biggest star, anyway?

"He's pretty," Denílson once said. "So he's very lucky: he's both a footballer AND pretty. I'm this ugly and still the women are all over me."

Hopefully, and it's just the type of thing that MLS needs, Denílson will share more of these pearls of wisdom with the soccer press when he finally does suit up for Dallas.

I remember back when the Internet didn't exist (well, 1998 living in Lake Tahoe it didn't - cell phones didn't even get service) and I wasn't privy to a 24-hour at-my-fingertips deluge of soccer information, I still knew that there was an 18-year old from Diedema, Brazil who was the most talked about young player for the Samba Kings since Pelé and no one from Brazil since has matched the hype he brought to France 1998.

He wasn't afraid to talk to the press either saying, "Because I'm twice as good as the #10 shirt" when asked why he had chosen to wear #20.

Competing for playing time with Bebeto, himself a World Cup winner, Denílson was so beloved in the soccer-mad country of Brazil that even the sport's only four-time champion, the then-head coach Mario Zagallo, could not escape criticism from those who thought that the veteran had passed his prime and the youngster should be starting.

The joke among my friends and I was that just the mere mention of his name required an awe-inspired silence and guys who barely even knew who Ronaldo was would ask me how Denílson played. I even put his name on my old Windows 95 screensaver just to watch it come up, and point it out to whoever was in the room at the time.

Though the winger never scored a goal and only started one game in France that year, it was enough for Real Bétis who decided to make him the highest transfer ever when they paid São Paulo $40.5 million for his services.

That's where the fairy tale ended for the flashy attacker. In six years with the Spanish club, Denílson scored just 12 goals, and by the time he was sold to Bordeaux in 2005, he was no longer even being included on the game day roster.

After a year in France where he seemed to find a place despite a slow start, Denílson headed off to the gold mines of Saudi Arabia where he spent the 2006/07 season.

I was living in France when he signed with Bordeaux, and I remember thinking to myself "Oh, that's where he's been" when I read about the transfer in the paper.

It's going to be easy to call this a mistake on Dallas' part. This will be Denílson's fourth team (fifth if you count the loan to Flamengo) in nine years, and he never really made a big impact anywhere, despite his impressive pedigree.

Dallas is expected to move another Brazilian, Marcelo Saragosa, to make from for Denílson, and while no one has seen the dribble wizard play in over a year, it's a safe bet to say that he is going to be an upgrade.

Dallas has had some schizoid performances this year where the team that showed up in the second half bore no resemblance to the one that took the field in the first, but they still sit just one point off lead behind Houston after a tough 1-0 loss to the Dynamo on Sunday.

While they do sit in second place, that doesn't mean that they couldn't use an offensive injection. FC Dallas is certainly counting on Denílson to bring that, with their leading scorer being a midfielder and Kenny Cooper, tied for second with Carlos Ruiz, out for much of the year.

He's not going to just help on the field, either. Denílson is going to bring people out to the park to see him. Who knows what a new lease on his soccer life for one of the top teams in the league is going to do for his form?

Whatever the jersey number he chooses this time (Ruiz wears #20 at Pizza Hut Park, so #40?), Denílson is going to bring exactly what MLS needs: buzz.

I'll be going just so, when they ask, I can say to my grandkids, "Best Dribbler Ever? Hmmmm... that would have to be Denílson de Oliveira Araújo. I used to watch him play when DC played FC Dallas..."

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Having given up the 'European Dream', Mark now lives outside of Washington DC, going to United games and practicing Spanish with Jaime and Christian and French with whoever will listen. You can reach him at flanoverseas@hotmail.com