10 Shocking Man Utd Departures That Nobody Expected

3. David Beckham

David Beckham was the poster boy of English football. A man who may have milked the limelight somewhat, marrying a Spice Girl and signing on for a whole range of endorsements, but when the wide-man could bend a ball in with such phenomenal whip and bend, perhaps he was entitled to enjoy some of the fame that came his way. Of course, not everyone thought that way, not least his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who had been less than enamoured with his choice of wife.

''David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be known outside the game. I felt uncomfortable about the celebrity aspect of his life. The big problem for me - he fell in love with Victoria and that changed everything. David thought he was bigger than Alex Ferguson. You cannot have a player taking over the dressing-room. That was the death knell for him.۪۪ - Sir Alex Ferguson, October 2013.

It was a damning indictment of a player who had played nearly 400 times for him, scoring 85 goals and winning 15 pieces of silverware along the way. However, it was typical of the breakdown in the relationship in the pair, which had stemmed back to 2003, when the volatile Scot angrily lashed a stray boot across the dressing-room in the direction of his prized winger, catching him squarely on the temple. Sporting a bandana for the press in a not-so-subtle bid to cover up his stitches, punters guessed there may have been some form of a bust-up with the manager, but nobody could have predicted that the club would seek to offload the sport€™s most valuable commodity in the summer. David Beckham not only a footballer - he was a global icon, and a Manchester United supporter through-and-through. He has since stated that he was prepared to spend the rest of his career at the club, but Ferguson had other ideas, dismaying Old Trafford supporters everywhere by sanctioning the £23 million move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.