David Beckham career team mates XI

David Beckham last week announced plans for a new MLS side to be based in Miami – nice work if you can get it. With the rumour mill going into overdrive over the new side’s potential name (Miami Spice anyone?), we take a look at a legends eleven that Beckham could field if he could persuade a few of his old teammates to come out of retirement.

GK – Peter Schmeichel

In goal we have a man who is still one of the greatest goalkeepers to have ever played Premier League football in Peter Schmeichel.

The Great Dane was voted the world’s best keeper two years in a row from 1992-93 and even managed to score 11 career goals despite his job being to keep them out at the other end.

Alongside Beckham, Schmeichel’s greatest moment came in 1999 as Manchester United won a famous treble, winning the league, FA Cup and that monumental Champions League victory over Bayern Munich, a feat that no other Premier League team has accomplished since.

RB – Gary Neville

Well known as one of Beckham’s best friends in or outside of the game, Neville is one of a rare breed in that he was a one-club man.

Few players manage to stay with one club throughout their careerand it is only possible if standards are not allowed to drop, something Neville always managed to do before finally retiring from the game at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Neville was also a key part of that famous 1999 treble winning squad, one of two Champions League triumphs he tasted with United, while he also won a massive eight league titles with the Red Devils.

CB – Alessandro Nesta

They only had a short time togetherand both were in the twilight of their careers in Europe, but there is no doubting the qualities of Alessandro Nesta.

The Italian centre-back is surely one of the finest defenders we have had the pleasure of seeing in the modern era, with his partnership with Fabio Cannavaro key to Italy lifting the World Cup in 2006.

Nesta has won three Serie A titles during his career with Lazio and AC Milan, while he also has two Champions League winners’ medals to his name with the latter in a distinguished career.

CB – Paolo Maldini

Again just a brief appearance alongside each other as Beckham spent three months alongside Maldini in his final season before opting to retire in 2009.

But he is not a player anybody would think of overlooking for a place in any XI should he be available for selections, as he is considered one of the finest defenders to have ever graced the game.

Another one-club man, Maldini spent 22 years in Milan’s first-team, winning seven Serie A titles and five European Cups, more than any other player, with only international honours missing from his CV, having finished as a runner-up in both a World Cup and European Championship.

LB – Roberto Carlos

Roberto Carlos something of a phenomenon and generally known as practically the best attacking left-back in the last 20 years.

The Brazilian was a rampant force down the left-hand side of the pitch for both national team and Real Madrid, where he enjoyed a successful time alongside Beckham.

CM: Roy Keane

The man that Beckham once described as “his best captain” makes our team in central midfield, providing the crunching tackles behind the side’s attacking flair players.

Keane’s uncompromising style made his one of the best midfielders to have graced Old Trafford, whilst his rivalry with Patrick Vieira provided one of the main talking points of the early part of the century.

CM: Paul Scholes

A teammate of Beckham’s since their youth days, Scholes scored over 100 goals for United during his 20 year playing career, amassing 107 goals in 499 appearances for the club. Once described by Barcelona legends Xavi and Pepe Guardiola as the best midfielder of his generation, Scholes was famed for his pinpoint passing under pressure.

One thing he couldn’t do, however, wastackle. The midfielder drew infamy for his poor tackling and picked up 120 yellow cards over his career.

CAM: Andrea Pirlo

Still going strong at the age of 34, Pirlo would provide a bit of a calming influence in midfield alongside Roy Keane. The Italian played alongside Beckham for Milan during the latter’s 2010 loan spell in the Italian capital. Currently at Juventus, Pirlo has made a pass every 1.2 minutes in Serie A this season and has created 37 chances this season, proving that he’s still got it in spite of his advancing years.

Robert Carlos, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane

RM: Zinedine Zidane

A magician with the ball at his feet, the Frenchman will forever be remembered for two moments in particular, verging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Arguably his finest hour, Zidane’s spectacular volley to win the 2002 Champions League final for Real Madrid will go down as one of the great cup final goals of modern times.

However, Zidane’s parting gift to the world of football showed another side to one of the game’s greatest ever players, with the Frenchman being sent off in extra time of the 2006 World Cup final – his final professional match – for a headbutt on Italy’s Marco Materazzi.

LM: Ronaldinho

Provider of one of what must count as one of Beckham’s worst moments in an England shirt, when he scored the free kick that knocked England out of the 2002 World Cup, Ronaldinho lined up alongside the England legend during Beckham’s loan spell in Milan.

A frequent adversary of Beckham’s during the two men’s respective spells in Spain, Ronaldinho scored 70 goals in 145 Barcelona appearances and won back to back footballer of the year awards in 2004 and 2005.

He also helped Beckham to defeat an army of Pepsi-hoarding medieval soldiers in a 2004 TV advert (is there no end to his talents?), although he makes our team on the back of his 21st century abilities. Mainly.

Ronaldo (The Brazilian One)

Scorer of 83 Real Madrid goals in 120 appearances for the club, it is probably a bit unfair that the original Ronaldo is now more commonly referred to as ‘The Other Ronaldo’ or as “the fat Ronaldo.” For a period in the early 2000?s Ronaldo was unplayable, before injuries took their toll and his career fizzled out. In spite of his injuries the Brazilian managed to win pretty much everything in the game whilst a Galactico at Madrid, and represented three more of the world’s biggest clubs in Barcelona, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

Only the second man to score at least three goals in three World Cup’s, Ronaldo scored 15 World Cup goals accross the 1998, 2002 and 2006 tournaments, becoming the competition’s record scorer in the process.

Subs: Luis Figo, Fabio Cannavaro, Eric Cantona, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Iker Casillas, Steven Gerrard.