Page 37 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

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FROM the moment he first laid boot on ball, David Beckham displayed an unbreakable urge to make the
best of himself and his talent. He and I left the main stage in the same summer, with him still
prominent in European football and opportunities galore ahead of him. He went out at Paris St-
Germain much as I did at United: on his own terms.
Sometimes you have to take something away from someone for them to see how much they loved it.

When Beckham moved to America to join LA Galaxy, I believe he began to realise he had
surrendered a part of his career. He worked incredibly hard to return to the level he had been at in his
prime, and showed more enthusiasm for the hard graft of the game than he did at the end of his time
with us.
David didn’t have many choices at the point of his transfer from Real Madrid to Major League

Soccer in 2007. I imagine he also had his eyes on Hollywood and the impact it would have on the
next phase of his career. There was no footballing reason for him to go to America. He was giving up
top-level club football as well as the international game, although he fought his way back into the
England squad. That proves my point about the disappointment at the heart of his career in its later
stages. He drew on a huge resilience factor to regain his prominence at the elite level.
Because I saw him grow up, along with Giggs and Scholes, David was more like a son to me. He
joined United as a young London lad in July 1991. Within a year he was part of the so-called Class of

’92, winning the FA Youth Cup with Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs. He made 394
appearances for the first team and scored 85 times, including one from the halfway line, against
Wimbledon, the goal that really announced him to the world.
When I left the United dug-out in May 2013, Giggs and Scholes were still with us, but by then it had
been ten years since David had left for Spain. On Wednesday 18 June 2003 we told the Stock
Exchange he would be joining Real Madrid for a fee of £24.5 million. David was 28. The news

flashed around the world. It was one of those global moments for our club.
I hold no rancour towards David at all. I like him. I think he’s a wonderful boy. But you should
never surrender what you’re good at.
David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be
known outside the game. Wayne Rooney was on the radar of an industry that would have liked to
change him. His profile was established in his teenage years. He had offers that would make your
mind boggle. He was making twice outside of football what we were paying him. The corporate

world would love to have taken over Giggsy, but that was never his style.
In his final season with us, we were aware that David’s work-rate was dropping and we had heard
rumours of a flirtation between Real Madrid and David’s camp. The main issue was that his
application level had dropped from its traditionally stratospheric level.