In the summer of 2003, Real Madrid made another “Galactico signing” by confirming the arrival of David Beckham from Manchester United, after a row with then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
He joined other Galactico players at the club, such as Luis Figo, Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo Nazario. There was an expectation of the success this level of team could bring to the club.
Things didn’t go as planned. It would be too far to call the Englishman a flop, certainly not. But it wasn’t as expected either. During Beckham’s four years at the club, no Champions League was won, with just one Spanish Super Cup at the start of his tenure and one La Liga title at the end.
Ups and downs for David Beckham in Madrid
In January 2007, ‘Becks’ agreed a deal to join the LA Galaxy at the end of the 2006/07 season. As a result, Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello said he would no longer play him. However, a month later, the Italian returned to this point. Upon his return from exile, Beckham scored a free-kick in a 2–1 win over Real Sociedad.
From there, he continued to play a role until the end of the season. On the final day of the La Liga season, the 32-year-old was forced off injured as Los Blancos trailed 1-0 at home to Mallorca. His replacement, Jose Reyes, scored twice in an eventual 3-1 victory, as Real won the championship against Barcelona in the head-to-head tiebreaker. It was his last match for the club.
So while it wasn’t perfect for Beckham in the Spanish capital, his time began and ended with silverware, and he certainly played his part in the La Liga title with some crucial goals in close matches.
Beckham set to join rivals Real Madrid
However, things could have ended very differently. Indeed, the 50-year-old recently explained that he was not supposed to sign for Los Blancos. Speaking on CBS Sports, “My team in Spain has always been Real Madrid,” he said. “Funnily enough, I was sold from Manchester United to Barcelona.”
“I was on vacation, Peter Kenyon [United CEO] called me and he said: ‘We have accepted an offer from Barcelona and we are selling you.’ I said – if you want to sell me – the only team I want to go to is Real Madrid, because I always dreamed of playing for Real Madrid when I was little.”
“I never thought I would leave Manchester United, but if I had, you know, I would have loved to play for Real Madrid, and if they wanted me to leave, the only club I wanted to go to was Real Madrid. So they [United] had to backtrack, oddly enough; in a day and a half, that [the move to Real Madrid] arrived.”
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