Just how GOOD was David Beckham Actually?

The middle child in a family with two girls, a mom who was a hairdresser and a dad who was a kitchen fitter living in London, David Robert Joseph Beckham had nothing remarkable about him, well, maybe one thing. His family would often travel over 200 miles to watch Manchester United play and his middle name, well, it was in honor of Sir Bobby Charlton. He would get to meet the man himself as he attended one of Bobby Charlton's soccer schools. In his second year there, he would win a competition and the prize no less than a training session with FC Barcelona. The boy was special and Sir Bobby knew it, so much so that he would contact Manchester United and get them to scout him. In what might have seemed like the blink of an eye, the boy would become as much of a football legend as Sir Bobby himself. And in this video, I'm not only gonna tell you how that happened, but also why many claim that he wasn't a real legend and why they are absolutely wrong. So if you're excited, go ahead and press the like button down below, it helps the channel immensely. After all of this, one thing added to another and suddenly David Beckham was a 16-year-old trainee at Manchester United. Sometimes I point out players who crossed paths in youth teams because, well, it's fun to know what they were up to before the big leagues, but in this case, we need to take a bit more time to appreciate this youth team. It not only contained David Beckham, but also Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and brothers Gary and Phil Neville, as you might expect they were pretty successful. In 1994, Beckham would get his first shot at playing for the first team, but soon he would get loaned out to Preston North End, where he would impress, famously scoring a goal from a direct corner kick. The following season, lots of players left Manchester United and Sir Alex did something notable. Despite being linked with legends like Overmars and Baggio, he would opt to play young players instead, one of them being Beckham, of course. The media would find this revolting and claim the club had a lack of ambition, only getting worse after their defeat in the first matchday of the Premier League to Aston Ville at 3-1, well, at least the one was scored by Beckham. Regardless, the boys would pick up the pace and although by New Year's they were 10 points behind Newcastle, they would win both the FA Cup and the Premier League. The next year he would earn himself the number 10 shirt and one moment in particular would be inked in history. Beckham would show one thing that always makes for a great player, confidence. As in a match against Wimbledon on the opening day, he would notice the keeper was away from the goal and smash it in from the half way line. It is still considered by many, the greatest opening day goal of all time. After this he became a regular starter and helped Manchester United retain the title as he became PFA Young Player of the Year. The next season, Eric Cantona, a club legend, would retire and as a new holder of the number 7 was needed, David Beckham was called for the job. Unfortunately, on his first season with the number, he would see Manchester United get only second behind Arsenal. Over the summer, he would finally get to take part in a tournament for England, something that seemed to be clearly overdue but it wouldn't be the end of Beckham's problems with the national coach Glenn Oddle. At the time, Beckham had been dating Victoria for about a year and a half. Having met her in the Manchester players' lounge, despite his lack of celebrity status at the time, he would ask the Spice Girls' number and as she claims she was fond of his low-key boy-next-door appearance, she would write it down on a plane ticket and give it to him. By next January, the two would be engaged. As you might imagine, this would only further fuel Beckham's meteoric rise to worldwide notoriety and the media was going wild over the couple, with many claiming it affected Beckham's performances on the pitch. One of those was the national team coach, who would drop him from the World Cup's first match and the second as well. Regardless, by the third match, he would give in and put Beckham on the team's sheet, who would not disappoint, scoring an incredible 30-yard free kick. As it seemed like Beckham would defy his critics, he would commit one mistake that would make the tabloids a thousand times more aggressive. In a round of 16, he would kick Diego Simeone after a foul and get a straight red as England got knocked out of the World Cup. In the aftermatch press conference, Beckham would be seen passing by with red eyes, as if he had been crying. As he arrived at the airport back home, journalists would ask him several disheartening questions such as literally, how does it feel to let your country down and do you realize what you have done? The next day, the cover of the Daily Mirror read, 10 heroic lions, one stupid boy. Two days later, the cover was a dark board with Beckham's face on it. By now, I think you get it, Beckham was the center of the world and the world seemed to not like him as much anymore. But the next season, the next season was kind of different. As Beckham looked on top of his game and dropped world-class performances one after the other, Manchester United progressed in all competitions, so much so that at a certain point they were bound to play in the final of the Champions League, the final of the FA Cup and they didn't lose a match in the league for 17 matchdays. If you know anything about English football, you know that English teams do not get travels. It just doesn't happen and obviously it hadn't happened before 1999. By now you understand where I'm going with this, but first I want to go over one thing. I've seen people claim that Manchester United didn't deserve the travel and that there were better teams in English football history who deserved it more than them, but hear me out a second. That season they played Barcelona twice, Bayern three times, Inter Milan twice, Juventus twice, Liverpool three times and Chelsea four times. They didn't lose a single one of those matches and they also went 29 matches without a loss at the end of the season. That's consistency at its best and that's what gets you trophies. Now of course they won the league and FA Cup, but let's focus on the one match that I'm sure no red devil will ever forget. On the 26th of May of 1999, Man United faced Bayern Munich in the final of the Champions League, the match to end it all. If they won it, they would be the first ever English team to win the treble, but one issue was evident. Both Roy Keane and Paul Scholes would miss the final, so one man had to step in and take the midfield role. That man was David Beckham. Five minutes in and Mario Basler scores, Man United are trailing one goal behind and that result would be kept all the way till the clock hit the 90th minute. There was no hope. Not the most hardcore of fans even considered the possibility that four minutes later Man United would be champions of Europe, but one thing made it possible and it wasn't Solskjaer's baby face or his killer instinct either. It was David Beckham and his magic feet that would ping two corners in three minutes and lead to two goals in extra time. Beckham had shown the world that he had not only all the skill, good looks and fame to make him a worldwide football star, but also all the willpower and determination to make of himself a legend, one of football's greatest. By the end of the year, Beckham would lose out on the Ballon d'Or, finishing second to Rivaldo, who won Copa America with five goals in five matches with the national team and La Liga with Barcelona getting 29 goals in all competitions. I'm not saying Rivaldo didn't deserve it, but if I could vote, I'd vote twice for David Beckham. You might think this would have been enough to sway David Beckham into the media's good side, but you'd be wrong. They would keep claiming his wife was a bad influence, that he wasn't focused and that United should sell him. At Euro 2000, it only got worse. As England got defeated by Portugal 3-2, Beckham was the one setting up both goals, but still he would get taunted so much that at a certain point he would raise his middle finger to the crowd. Regardless, by the end of the year, he would get the captain's armband. Over the next few years, Beckham would win three consecutive Premier Leagues, always stopping the assist tables and seeing United win for record margins, but his relationship with Sir Alex kept getting worse, as he also believed his wife was a bad influence, even dropping him from matches and fining him as he missed a training session because of his son being sick, despite Victoria still leaving them at home to attend Fashion Week. In 2001, Beckham scored one of the most incredible goals of his career, a free kick in the last minute against Greece to seal England's spot in the 2002 World Cup. By 2003, Sir Alex would be furious after an Arsenal defeat and would kick a boot that laid in the ground in frustration. The boot would fly into Beckham's face and cut him above the eye. This was it. Beckham was done and he didn't want to deal with his relationship anymore. By the next transfer window, he was out to Real Madrid, having won six Premier League titles in 12 years at Manchester United. His 37 million dollar transfer made him one of the most expensive English players of all time, a rightful premise to becoming one of Los Galáticos, which, by the way, was the perfect team for him. What other team for the most mediatic player of all time, if not the most mediatic team of all time, right? Not able to wear the number 7, because Raul had of course already taken it, Beckham would pick 23, in honor of the great Michael Jordan. The first season would not be great at all, Los Galáticos disappointed, only winning the Super Cup. The current coach, Carlos Queiroz, who had already been Beckham's coach at Manchester United, stepped down and Camacho took his place. Camacho wanted Los Galáticos to start training at sunrise and to train regardless of the weather, they didn't like it at all, and nearly boycotted his spot with Camacho stepping down from the role only three matches after starting. His assistant would take his place, but it still wouldn't be the right fit, with Wanderlei Luxemburgo taking his place. Still, he wouldn't be able to get him the first place finish, Florentino desired so much, so he would also get sacked and replaced with López Claro. Among all of this drama, he took part in the World Cup 2006, where, after being knocked out by Portugal, he would announce that he was passing off the captain armband to John Terry. At the time, this wasn't supposed to mean international retirement, but after England didn't manage to qualify to Euro 2008, Beckham ended up not competing in any more tournaments for the national team. Another unsuccessful season would see not only the coach but the president of the club stepping down as well, with Fabio Capello taking the spot this time. Believe me or not, it had been four seasons of managerial craziness at this point and Beckham was now 32. They wasted that incredible opportunity and Beckham left for the MLS. Joining LA Galaxy was the best thing that ever happened not only to that club but to the league. All of a sudden, everyone in the world knew what LA Galaxy was, and of course, they were the team David Beckham played for. You know the United States, and especially LA, love their celebrities and well, I'd pretty much need a whole video just to cover the amount of endorsement, reality shows, interviews, award ceremonies and everything in between that was set up for Beckham in the United States. It was total insanity. The point is that in two seasons, Beckham was enough to lead them to not be so fond of him anymore, calling him a fraud and a part-time player, but as he managed to get the team to the MLS Cup final, he would get on their good side once more. Oddly enough, he would come back to Milan for another season on loan as he looked sharp, even playing at Old Trafford one last time, he would get a severe Achilles tendon injury and miss out on most of the season. After taking the remaining of the season to get back into shape, he would go on leaving to a standing ovation in the final of the MLS Cup, he left as the biggest legend of the club. He would join Paris Saint-Germain for the half season that was left of the European calendar, donating the entirety of his salary in what would be his victory lap, adding the French League to his resume. In his final game, he would be given the captain's armband as he got subbed off in the 80th minute, the stadium erupted in cheers for the great man, as he could not keep the tears from flowing. As much as anyone might say he didn't focus on football, there should be no doubt and no denying of David's love for the sport. David Beckham was one of the most entertaining figures the sport has seen, an absolute idol for the younger generations, every kid wanted his newest haircut and to hit a free kick like only he could. Me, I've been trying to ping passes like him since I was a young boy to no avail, the man was a genius and I won't even entertain the thought that he was just a celebrity or not focused enough on football anymore. These claims only ensure that Beckham became one of the most underrated and underappreciated legends the game has ever seen. If there's a player who's synonymous with amazing free kick goals, it's probably him, there is a reason that when someone tells you to bend the shot, they tell you to bend it, like Beckham. So getting into our ranking system, he will first be judged on his finishing, taking into account the free kicks, though he wasn't the most prolific, it's an 8 out of 10. Then we should get into his playmaking, well if you can pass like that, I don't need anything else from you, it's a 10 out of 10. When it comes to dribbling, he had excellent ball control, but he wasn't the type of player to jump it to one-on-ones, it's an 8 out of 10. In terms of speed and physicality, well, he wasn't very fast actually, which is odd for someone who played on the wing, but I guess that goes to show how much clout he had on the pitch, regardless, it's a 7 out of 10. Finally is mentality, putting on great performances despite all the media frenzy is impressive, though he sometimes seemed to get affected, and when you add some clutchness and incredible ability to read the game, well, it's 8 out of 10. The second part focuses on his legacy, being his first attribute consistency and adaptability. He was great everywhere he played, so I can't blame him too much, but it's a fact that out of his 18 trophies, 13 came from his time at Manchester, so the most I can give him is an 8 out of 10. The second attribute is flair, he's easily one of my favorite players to watch, like, one of the first names that comes to mind when I wanna watch some satisfying old clips, it's a 10 out of 10. Getting into his trophy cabinet, well, no international trophy with a national team and sadly no Ballon d'Or is already tough, paired with the fact that most of his trophies came in a very specific period, it's a 7 out of 10. When it comes to longevity, he actually had an impressive 12 seasons at top level, even 14 if you count AC Milan, that's a lot, and it gets him an 8 out of 10. Finally, the icon factor, are you kidding, it's David Beckham, everyone knows who he is, but honestly, I can't give him a 10, because just like I kept saying over the video, people still think he's just a celebrity, hopefully this video can change the mind of some people like that, but it's still only a 9 out of 10. This totals out at 83 out of 100, putting him right beside Roberto Carlos, which makes him one of the best players we've ever reviewed, surely one of the most interesting and one of my favorites as well. So yeah, that was David Beckham's career in a video, I hope you enjoyed, if you did, don't forget to like and subscribe, it really helps the channel so much, please, please like and comment, okay? So yeah, that's it, see you next week, bye.