Legends everywhere 

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This Friday marks a very special birthday for a special player. Not many footballers have encapsulated the sport’s globalism more than former England, Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham. The figurehead of England’s ‘Golden generation’ played football in five different countries and two different continents and was a genuine superstar. Today the legend turns 50 years old. To celebrate this iconic birthday for this iconic player, here at Transfermarkt, we have looked back on Beckham’s career stats and also trawled through the star-studded list of teammates he played alongside.

Beckham enjoyed his most successful years at both Man United, where he came through the youth ranks, and Real Madrid, where he joined as a ‘Galactico’. His statistics for goals and assists during his time at both of those clubs are listed above, and as can be identified, for the large part of his career he was getting 20+ goal contributions (goals + assists) per season. Beckham boasted one of the meanest right foots of his generation and was synonymous with whipping free-kicks and crosses. During his illustrious career, he played with some of the very best. Let’s take a look at the most valuable players that played 10+ games alongside the former England captain. Legends everywhere.

David Beckham’s most valuable teammates

To amalgamate this list we have ranked all players Beckham played with by their career-high market values. The most valuable of which was none other than Brazilian icon Ronaldinho. Beckham played 20 games with the samba trickster at AC Milan during the twilight of both player’s careers. Ronaldinho’s career-high market value stood at €80m. In second place is another superstar Beckham played alongside at the San Siro. Kaká reached a career-high market value of €70m, and played 14 games with Beckham at AC Milan. In third is Manchester United’s all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney at €65m. The pair never actually played together at Old Trafford, with Beckham departing for Madrid a year prior to Rooney arriving, but the duo played 39 matches together for England.

In fourth place is five-time Champions League winner Sergio Ramos (€50m) with the legendary Spanish defender playing 63 times with Beckham for Real Madrid when both player’s were at opposite ends of their careers. Fifth goes to former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard (€50m), who played 57 games with Beckham for the Three Lions. Next up is iconic Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović (€46m) who played 13 games with the Englishman at PSG. The wonderful Brazilian Ronaldo (€45m) takes eighth position, having lined up 104 times with Beckham at Real Madrid. Ruud van Nistelrooy (€40m) played 109 times with Beckham at Man United and Real Madrid, whilst Thiago Silva (€40m) completes the top 10 having amassed 20 matches with Beckham at AC Milan and PSG.

When we collate an XI from the most valuable players Beckham played with it makes for a frightening team brimming with world-class talent. Former Real Madrid and Spain captain Iker Casillas (€35m) keeps net, with Ramos and Silva at centre-half. Heroic Brazilian left-back Carlos (€30m) lines up at left-back, with Italian Gianluca Zambrotta (€28m) in at right-back. The midfield trio consists of Gerrard, Lampard and Kaká, with Ronaldinho, Ibrahimović and Rooney taking the front three positions.