David Beckham didn’t figure in Alex Ferguson’s Top 5 Manchester United players of the last 20 years.

Beckham, left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2003, he was overlooked in favour of Peter Schmeichel, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney.

Alex Ferguson said: “In my time, I’ve been blessed with several world-class players. Schmeichel was certainly one and Giggs, for me, definitely. Cantona could have been even better but for the parts of him that you had to control.”

“Rooney - that’s four, and I think Ronaldo is going to be as well. He is playing in the hardest position in football, out wide, and he never refuses to take the ball and attack players. He is two-footed, he’s brave and once his decision making improves, he will be world-class without question. Then there is Keane, and that’s five.”

Paul Scholes, who is having an Indian summer at United, was close to making the list.

Ferguson, “There is an argument for Paul Scholes because he is the cleverest midfield player that we’ve ever had.”

David Beckham

The former England captain David Beckham, was a major influence for United. Beckham won nine league and cup trophies, including the 1999 Champions League, in his 12 year spell at Old Trafford.

But Beckham and Ferguson fell out…

Ferguson, after a defeat, kicked a football boot in the changing room and it hit Beckham above the eye, opening a deep cut. He then sold him to Real Madrid in 2003.

David Beckham wears Adidas Predator Absolute Swerve football boots.