Who are the greatest players in Manchester United’s history? The Athletic gave Andy Mitten the task of compiling his top 25, and we are counting them down this summer, in reverse order. He explains his thought process here.Islamabad, 2022, and I’ve stopped to meet 20 or so Pakistani Manchester United fans en route to the club’s pre-season tour in Thailand and Australia.Most are in their mid-thirties and explain why they support United. One reason stands out more than any other: David Beckham.The Londoner’s goals, graft and good looks garnered worldwide appeal as he starred in arguably the club’s greatest side. He also had the strength of character to survive an utter pounding by the media at a level not seen since the days of George Best.Beckham became — and still is — the most famous living English footballer, his global profile even higher now in 2026, 23 years after he left Manchester United for Real Madrid in acrimony after a fallout with Sir Alex Ferguson.Madrid felt they were getting United’s top talent and the Spanish media celebrated as much; they were not. They had actually signed United’s most famous player after Ferguson decided he was distracted and dispensable. His £25million ($33.6m at today’s rates) transfer fee was United’s highest sale until Cristiano Ronaldo moved six years later, again to Madrid.Beckham had played 394 times for United (33rd on the all-time list, between Nobby Stiles and John O’Shea), scoring 85 goals (27th between Anthony Martial and Eric Cantona).He played a very impressive 729 professional games for United, Preston North End, Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, plus he collected 115 England caps.Hardcore Old Trafford fans already knew this son of United fanatic Ted from the famous Class of 92 FA Youth Cup-winning side, arguably the greatest youth team ever. Beckham was the outsider, the boy from suburban east London, chided for being flash because he took care of his appearance rather than being a gritty Mancunian. He stayed a long time, but was only 28 when he left.“You could never fault Becks for his single-mindedness,” said his best friend and later his best man, footballer Gary Neville, speaking to me in 2024. “Focused and determined, if he wanted something, he’d go out and get it.” In this case, Neville was talking about how Beckham had decided he would get a date with Victoria (aka Posh Spice) from the Spice Girls.“David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be known outside the game,” said Sir Alex Ferguson in his 2013 autobiography. It’s still debatable whether the Scot was correct to sell him but United continued to flourish and so did Beckham.Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham during a promotional campaign in 2002 (Gary M. Prior/Getty Images)“David Beckham was an amazing footballer,” Neville told me in 2024. “The celebrity is always thrown at David, but he had so much quality. He was like (Kevin) De Bruyne in quality terms. City fans might ridicule that statement, but he had the quality, the energy. Maybe De Bruyne could dribble more, but Becks maybe had more stamina.“Beckham had the precision of passing from wide areas that I’ve not seen any other player have other than De Bruyne in the Premier League years. I could see he was on his way out of Old Trafford because there was tension building and relations became fractious and that was sad for me.“We were two opposites, yet the same in our support of United, in how our families were dedicated to us and supporting us every week. I became close with Becks when we were aged 17-18 and had gone full-time professionals. We played on the same side of the pitch and knew each other inside out. I felt like I knew everything he was going to do next, on and off the pitch.“I knew where his head was and what his mindset was. He knew where I was — there was a telepathy on and off the pitch. Beckham was a 50-50 partnership where I defended for him and attacked for him — and he defended for me and attacked for me.”Ferguson and Beckham’s relationship would sour because of how the manager saw the midfielder’s lifestyle. At one point, Ferguson had kicked a stray football boot in anger towards Beckham in the dressing room and it flew up, cutting Beckham’s eyebrow. Beckham made sure the waiting paparazzi got their pictures of the injury.“Becks left in 2003 and I honestly thought it was him or me who went,” Ryan Giggs said in 2024. “It was a bit of a shock when he went, even though you could see the relationship between him and the manager had been strained for two years. The manager wasn’t going to change, Becks is strong-minded, and he wasn’t changing his lifestyle. He was always a good professional, but he had a lifestyle that maybe the manager didn’t always agree with. I was sad to see him go because he was a quality player, but I also thought, ‘Good luck to him’. And because he left, I got to take some free kicks for the first time in years.”Ah, the free kicks, the most potent part of Beckham’s game. He hit glorious ones for club and country. Team-mate Diego Forlan once watched him after training.“They had a mobile wall to wheel into different positions,” Forlan explained to me. “It didn’t jump up and down, but the ‘players’ were taller than normal. For one hour, Seba (Juan Sebastian Veron) and Becks hit the ball over it and around it. Their techniques were completely different, but they hit the same part of the goal each time. They would move the ball closer or further from the wall and still strike the same spot. Beckham was clearing the wall and scoring from eight yards, Veron from 16. I thought, ‘Wow!’. We were supposed to be tired, but they were in search of perfection. When I saw them repeat this in real games, I knew it was hard work and talent, rather than luck.”Beckham’s hard work and talent got him to the top of football. It brought him attention — at times too much for some — adulation and millions of fans around the world.History will remember him as a great footballer for some of the greatest Manchester United sides.