David Beckham was left ruing Manchester United’s transfer business as he watched Arsenal in action against PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday.
United’s transfer dealings in recent times has left much to be desired, with many incomings at Old Trafford proving to be an expensive mistake.
Mason Mount, for example, has scored just two Premier League goals since his £55million switch from Chelsea, while £72m recruit Rasmus Hojlund could well leave the club this summer at a huge loss.
During that time, the Red Devils have also lost out on several big targets, and Beckham was painfully reminded of that fact as he watched Declan Rice in action in the Champions League semi-final.
‘He’s so consistent. I love watching players score great free-kicks,’ Beckham said on CBS, referencing the Arsenal midfielder’s two superb free-kicks against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
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‘There were a couple of comparisons so I messaged him just to say congratulations.’
When Rice left West Ham in the summer of 2023, a host of Premier League clubs, including United and Manchester City, were queueing up to try and sign the dynamic midfielder.
Beckham admitted he tried to best to lure Rice to United over a video call before the midfielder made his decision to move to north London.
‘I’ve spoken with him through James Corden,’ the former England captain revealed.
‘I think they were in a Chinese restaurant in London and they facetimed me to say ‘Declan is obviously leaving West Ham and he’s a bit undecided whether it should be Arsenal or Manchester United.
‘I was like ‘let me speak to him’, but he obviously didn’t listen!’
While Rice has enjoyed a superb individual season at Arsenal, it will be another campaign without silverware for the Gunners after they were knocked out of Europe by PSG.
Reflecting after the defeat, though, the Englishman vowed that his team would come back stronger next season in pursuit of the club’s first major trophy since 2020.
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‘In life in general, sometimes you have to lose a few in order to win and you have to overcome some of these setbacks to mentally grow as a person, as a player and as a group,’ he told TNT Sports.
‘We’re going through that stage at the minute after a few losses in terms of losing out on the league and coming close in the Champions League in back-to-back years.
‘We’re growing as a team, as people, but we need to keep pushing and keep believing. This is why we play this sport, there are going to be setbacks along the way.
‘PSG have obviously gone through tonight, we’re absolutely gutted but this isn’t going to define us for sure.
‘We’re going to be back and when we get our players back who have been out for a very long time, we are going to be a much stronger outfit so we’ve got to keep going.’
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