Piers Morgan‘s opinion on Manchester United number sevens could not be more polarizing – while Ronaldo is hailed by him as an incomparable great, the same cannot be said of David Beckham. It rarely takes much to ignite the outspoken journalist’s heated tirade against one of the Premier League’s most iconic figures over recent generations. Despite it continuing to generate major controversy, Morgan has remained loud and unerring in his criticism of Beckham as a footballer – no matter who gets caught in the line of fire in between.
Even though Morgan’s joke earned a few laughs, many people took it as an opportunity to give praise to the incredible career David Beckham accomplished in the football world. Many fans and legends alike shared stories of Beckham’s impressive skill set on the pitch and agreed that even if you do not like him, he is one of Britain’s best footballers. Some called his move from Manchester United to Real Madrid a defining moment as it showed that British players were more than capable of transferring between top European clubs at a time where most didn’t believe they could compete on such a stage. Following this illustrious career it was fitting that Beckham ended it with a flourish by being part of Paris Saint-Germain’s winning squad for the 2013–14 season for Ligue 1, making him the first ever Englishman to win league titles in four countries.
Morgan and Lineker clearly had very different opinions on David Beckham’s footballing ability, which turned a seemingly mundane conversation into a heated debate. Morgan thought Beckham was the most overrated player in history and even suggested he wouldn’t have made it to the Arsenal Invincibles bench. In contrast, Lineker moved quickly to defend his former teammate with an impressive list of honours, including 6 Premier Leagues, 2 FA Cups, 1 Champions League, 1 La Liga and even a Ballon D’Or runner up position. He also listed his 115 caps for England and 59 of those as captain. To wrap up Lineker’s strongly worded speech, he added that Beckham was ‘one of the best crossers of the ball the game has ever seen,’ not bad for someone who is apparently overrated!
