When Players Were Asked About David Beckham...

Beckham is severely underrated simply due to being, arguably, more famous for things off the pitch, which is why a testimonial video like this is important. For the players that played either with or against him, or in rare cases, are able to tunnel vision the noise and judge him fairly on ability alone, his legacy in the game is remembered truly at the highest possible order. It's like a whip. Ping is just ridiculous. An outstanding player with intelligence, vision, and a wand of a right foot to complement it. Here now, GOAT presents David Beckham in the words of his contemporaries. I think I'd go actually with David Beckham. Just because one of the best crosses I've ever seen. For a striker. Very quick, look at the ball that he sends to him one on one. That is a fantastic ball. From Beckham. What about his skill set that was so particular to him? Where do you want to start? He could get an assist, he could get you a goal, he was brilliant at set pieces, he could run all day for you, get up and down that line. Well, he had to, we're never behind him. So he'd everything you want in a wide player. It was a weird experience for us local lads to see, you know, Cockney lad, knowing more about United than we did. A bit embarrassing. He was brilliant, honestly, playing with Beckham. And he just used to caress the ball, like, in training. Well, he was the first of his kind. Everybody played 4-4-2 at the time. He redefined that position. It was interesting, we used to watch him in training, you know, how accurate he was, time and time again. Probably eight out of ten free kicks would go, you know, virtually in the top corner. His free kicks were hitting top stanchions, top bins, all day long. Consistently. It was a joke. Every time he had a free kick, I never thought he'd miss. You know, never. I played against him at Portsmouth. He put one in the far corner. Yeah, I couldn't talk highly enough of him. Top player. I thought Beck's obviously a brilliant player. And he had football intelligence. He knew when to go wide. And we talk about being smart. He knew he didn't have to beat a man to cross the ball. Just give him half a yard and he just had to. It's like we see Trent at Liverpool. He just had that technique where defenders didn't know what to do with him. And if he got too tight, then he could do him a little bit. Or to be fair, never was always giving him an option. We were absolutely destroying teams down that right-hand side. He was with his crossing. And I was supporting him in a way which, to be fair, was... I'd say I was a side dish, really. He could dribble with the ball, but he doesn't need to dribble with the ball. He scored every type of goal you could imagine in terms of, like, from 30 yards. Whipping it. Drilling it. Chipping the keeper. Volleys. Fade on the ball. Undoubtedly, the best crossover ball I've ever seen. When you see David play, everybody says that he has a gift. It's like an artist in front of his canvas. He put a few on a player for me, yeah. I mean, his ability... I mean, it sounds simple, but of course it's not. His ability to move the ball and whip it in was unbelievable, wasn't it? With that magic right foot. And I was in the sideline enjoying that ball's flying. It's just... It's like a whip ping. It's just ridiculous. For me, the best crosser of a ball the world's ever seen. Because Beckham, without question, was the fittest player united as a kid. Up and down the pitch. All the brief tests in terms of pre-season, he's streets ahead of everyone. He was a ridiculous footballer. He had the fundamentals of the game down. Like, you could do a training session about around one touch, two touch, three touch. Crossing and shooting. During a session, he was 100 miles an hour everywhere. Hard work, shutting people down. Great technique on the ball. Always done something in a training session you thought, whoa, that's elite, elite, elite, elite. What I've always admired about David is his mental toughness. He's phenomenal. I mean, you could say... People can say whatever they want about him who don't know him, but mental toughness is as tough as anybody you'll ever, ever, ever meet. But I don't think I once ever fell out with Beckham about anything because I just thought he turned up every day and put a shift in. If you look over the treble season, 99, he was probably the best player at United that season. He was unbelievable. He was unplayable. David Beckham, for me in my era, was phenomenal. So underrated. And I mean, that might sound a bit silly because he's gone and played for Real Madrid and had the career he had, but I still don't think he gets the credit he deserves. I thought he was phenomenal footballer. Big game player. Yeah, Becks was the one very early on. And later on as well when he was captain, kind of took me under his wing and gave me a lot of good advice, both football and financial and all of those bits. But he was excellent with every young player as well. Just a great example for us to look up to. And just a world-class player as well. I think sometimes because of the kind of megastar he is off the pitch, I think we often forget how good he was. And Becks was an absolute legend of the game. And certainly in the discussions of, you know, the best players ever to play the game for our country. Was there a player that you looked at and you were like, cool, I want to emulate this player when you were growing up? Yeah, Becks for sure. Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to score goals for worldies because, I mean, that's what Becks did. Who's your idol? David Beckham. Is it? Yeah, I love David Beckham. It was a pleasure to play with someone like him because he was just such a diligent, hardworking individual who had natural talent, but also worked on his talent as well. Legendary status, without a doubt. I think he's put a long shift in as an England player. Some fantastic performances, some fantastic goals, memories. And I've learned a lot off David and it's been a pleasure. But, you know, obviously great lad and Victoria is such a lovely woman. Funny, a lot funnier than what people would think. And I think because as time goes on, the light on the pitch dims a little bit of how good he was. And I think that this generation probably need to kind of go and watch YouTube maybe, or just get somebody who's been around him in that era just to understand. That's why I think this nostalgic kind of piece is really amazing and enlightening for this next generation. Because to understand what David Beckham is, I don't think the younger generation get it.