Farewell to David Beckham, footballer

Los Angeles Galaxy's David Beckham (C) holds the trophy with his team after the Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo to win the MLS Cup championship soccer game in Carson, California, in this Dec 1, 2012 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

By then he had moved to the United States, again ignoring the fusillade of criticism that he was doing it only for money.

True enough, LA Galaxy earned a massive worldwide profile on the back of the deal but ask any of his teammates if they thought Beckham was there for a cushy retirement and you would get short shrift.

He duly helped Galaxy to successive MLS titles, while keeping his hand in back in Europe with loan spells in Milan, before leaving California for good for his final port of call at Paris St Germain.

He announced that he would donate all his salary to charity and at the end of his first season PSG were champions and Beckham, having also tasted glory with United and Real, became the first Englishman to win domestic titles in four countries.

By then, of course, his fame and fortune had spread beyond the wildest of wild dreams of the London schoolboy who always wanted to join United.

From the nervy, high-pitched youngster, the butt of easy jokes, Beckham developed into a smoothly articulate statesmen.

He was as comfortable alongside world leaders as he helped London's bid to land the 2012 Olympics as he was kicking a rag ball around with dirt-poor children on visits to the townships of South Africa.

Students take pictures of former England captain David Beckham as he kicks a ball in the field of a middle school during his visit in Beijing, March 20, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Such is Beckham's wholesome image he was recently roped in as China's global soccer ambassador to repair the game's stained reputation there after a match-rigging scandal.

Last month he was named Britain's richest sportsman while his former pop star-turned designer wife Victoria is a multi-millionaire industry in her own right.

The fame and ridiculous fortune, however, have never been his driving force.

Earlier this year, having trained with Arsenal in a bid to keep sharp after leaving LA Galaxy, manager Arsene Wenger summed up the twice world player of the year runner-up thus:

"This guy has fantastic quality and has done the maximum in his career. Why? Because he loves football."

Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham (back) celebrate at the end of their team's French Ligue 1 soccer match against Olympique Lyon at the Gerland stadium in Lyon in this May 12, 2013 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]