“It obviously hurt” – Ex-Manchester United superstar opens up forcing Real Madrid transfer despite Alex Ferguson agreeing Barcelona move
Manchester United legend David Beckham has opened up on how he turned down a move to Barcelona for Real Madrid in 2003 amid issues with Sir Alex Ferguson.
The iconic duo's relationship was already downhill due to an incident after a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup. It's believed that then-United boss Ferguson kicked a boot that caught Beckham just above his left eye. The former England captain was left with stitches.
Beckham was then made available for sale that summer and could have been on his way to Barcelona if Ferguson had his way. Manchester United agreed a fee with the Blaugrana for the famous No. 7 to head to the Camp Nou.
That wasn't what Beckham desired, though, if he were to leave Old Trafford, as the legendary right winger only wanted Real Madrid. He said that he only found out about the agreement between United and Barca through a TV report (via talkSPORT):
“I always thought I’d start my career at United and end my career at United. I had no intention of leaving at any point. I didn’t want to play for any other club. But obviously I then find out I got sold one summer."
Beckham continued:
"I’m on holiday, and my friend Dave Gardner called me and said ‘you might want to turn on the TV. United have accepted an offer for you’. I had three years left on my contract at the time, so (I) was like ‘what do you mean?’ He said, ‘they’ve accepted a bid from Barcelona, and you’re leaving.’"
That shocked Beckham and he was soon on the phone to Manchester United's chief executive Peter Kenyon. He went on to talk about the phone call between te pair:
"I said, ‘can I speak to the manager?’ He said ‘no’. I said ‘I’d like to speak to the manager if I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘he doesn’t want to talk to you, he’s on holiday, and that’s it’."
Beckham added that he told Kenyon that he wanted to make a decision over his future and that he wanted his new home to be the Santiago Bernabeu:
“I said, ‘I need to know if this is real or not.’ He said, ‘it’s real, we’ve accepted an offer’ which I then replied to him by saying, ‘If I am leaving United, I want to decide where I go next, I don’t want to go to Barcelona, there’s only one club I want to go to, and that’s Madrid’."
Beckham went on to add how quickly a move to Real Madrid were then sorted but also the disappointment regarding his exit:
“My management made the call, and a day and a half later, I was a Madrid player. It obviously hurt. I couldn’t watch United for three years on the TV.”
The iconic Englishman joined Los Blancos for €37.5 million. He went on to score 20 goals and provided 52 assists in 159 games across competitions at the Bernabeu. He won the La Liga and Supercopa de Espana titles.
Sir Alex Ferguson also wanted Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo to join Barcelona over Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo was another blockbuster name who made the switch from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009. He became the world's most expensive player at the time, joining the La Liga giants for €117 million.
However, Ferguson was again pushing for another United great to join Barca rather than Madrid. Spanish journalist Guillem Balague told AS:
"Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Cristiano to stay (at Manchester United), he made contact with Barcelona to encourage them to bid. Anyone but Real Madrid. But Cristiano had made up his mind about where he wanted to go."
Ronaldo was a massive hit with Real Madrid, winning the Ballon d'Or award four times. He's Los Blancos' all-time record goalscorer with 450 goals in 438 games. The Portuguese hero won four Champions League and two La Liga titles in the Spanish capital, too.