David Beckham: Best of all-time?

He was definitely not the best player of all time. I think he's an easy person to market, and that's where a lot of his popularity and attention comes from. Good player? Yes. Exciting player? Certainly. Best of All Time??! No way.

 

I wrote it on the soccer thread. He never was the best player for United (arguably 3rd to 7th best) and probably never for England (except for maybe before he hurt his foot in 2002). Not with Real Madrid, not with LA (Landon), not while on loan with Milan and not with PSG this year.

 

He was clearly the best player on the Galaxy. Landon Donovan didn't get a 5 yr./$250 million deal.

 

Better players than Beckham on his own team, Manchester United Division:

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, possibly Andy Cole, possibly Eric Cantona (though he was himself overrated), Ruud van Nistelrooy, possibly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

And those are just midfielders and forwards. It doesn't include short-term, high-end teammates like Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham, Mark Hughes, Juan Sebastian Veron, etc., nor defenders/keepers like Dennis Irwin, the Neville's, Jaap Stam, Steve Bruce, Peter Schmeichel, etc.

He fit in with those players very well and was an integral part of Man U machine in the 90s and early 2000s, but if Alex Ferguson had to pick one player he absolutely HAD to keep, I doubt he would've picked Beckham in any single one of his seasons, especially with Giggs in his prime too.

 

I think for much of the period from 1998-2002, Michael Owen was probably England's best player -- the hat trick against Germany playing the major role in arguably England's best win since 1966. Although certainly Beckham scored two very important goals -- the equalizer against Greece to earn qualification and the penalty to beat Argentina in the group stages.

 

Amar'e Stoudemire made more than Steve Nash in 2006-07, so he was clearly better than the back-to-back MVP.

 

Well, Giggs is the best United player EVER, so yeah. /fanboylooser

 

It was the likes of Keane and Scholes who let Beckham run free, along with rock solid CBs like Stam. I thought that his interplay with Gary Neville was special and Becks always busted his behind to track back. For about a season or so, he and RvN also had a telepathic relationship.

 

Would like a word with you.

 

Oh, he's a close second.