Although he’s widely regarded as one of football’s greatest ever midfielders, David Beckham was not a world-class player.
That’s according to talkSPORT’s Graeme Souness, who believes two of his fellow Manchester United legends deserve the title instead.
Beckham enjoyed a glittering career at United as he won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League, scoring 85 goals and assisting another 121 in 394 appearances.
He also played for European giants AC Milan, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as earning the third highest number of caps ever for England with 115.
The 49-year-old is eyed as one of the most famous footballers ever and was well known for his excellent passing, crossing and free-kick taking.
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However, Scotland and Liverpool legend Souness does not believe that Beckham reached the status of world-class despite his quality.
Speaking on an episode of Simon and Souness in March, he said: “I wouldn’t say he was a world-class football player.
“I think he was… dead-ball kicker, as good as anyone you want to name. But you know, you’re talking world-class…
“World-class for me is a word that’s bandied about, commentators are using it all the time. World-class for me is someone who could go anywhere and get in anyone’s team, and there’s only ever…”
“Could Beckham not have done that?” asked Jim White, but Souness insisted: “I don’t think so, in my opinion. I think there’s only ever… You know, who could do that in this country right now? Let’s go through them.
“There’s no one at Man United, [Kevin] De Bruyne fits that, I think Bernardo Silva tinkers with that. [Erling] Haaland? Yeah. [At Liverpool?] I think there’s a real shout for the goalkeeper [Alisson], I think the centre-back [Virgil van Dijk] does that, [Mohamed] Salah does that.
“And then beyond that, is there anyone at Arsenal? No. No one at Tottenham. So world-class is any team would welcome them.”
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White then spoke on how good the famed Class of ’92 were, with Beckham breaking into the United first-team alongside Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Phil Neville.
Souness replied: “Giggs would get in anywhere. Giggs was world-class, Giggs goes and gets in anyone’s team.”
“So Giggs was world-class, but Beckham wasn’t?” asked White, with his co-host responding: “In my opinion, no.”
“He would’ve wanted to avoid me,” the former midfielder added when asked if he would’ve been comfortable playing against him.
“He played out wide didn’t he? I think we maybe didn’t mention the best one, I think Scholes was world-class. I liked to play against him, he was proper.”
White asked if Beckham would fit into any team today as a wide player, to which his fellow Scotsman replied: “Yeah, because he’s got that delivery, he had delivery that few had.
“You know, I say that… Am I contradicting myself, that maybe we should be talking about world-class? But I’ve still got… No, I can’t.”
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“I don’t think he was a phenomenal scorer,” Souness added: “I don’t remember him scoring lots of goals, though he did chip in.
“But he’ll be remembered as a Man United great, no two ways about it, in what may be the best, certainly in my lifetime, their best period, their glory period under Fergie.”
Souness then claimed that Beckham would get in the current England team and White replied: “That says a lot about him though doesn’t it? You can’t say that about every…”
“No no, he was class,” Souness responded. “The thing that’s really, really attractive about him is, from my opinion, he had so much publicity.
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“The most famous footballer in the world for a period of time I would imagine, but it didn’t change his desire on the football pitch. He still wanted to work hard on the guys he was playing against, you know
“He still would put in a shift-and-a-half. I don’t know if he was maybe going out at the wrong time, but it didn’t seem to affect his work-rate.”
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