David Beckham Revealed His Career Regrets, Choice of Messi or Ronaldo, Possible Return to Man UTD, and More

David Beckham is not a man of many words, so you can bet longtime football journalist Simon Kuper was quite shocked when the legendary footballer-turned-businessman spoke for nearly an hour at Johannesburg’s Discovery Leadership Summit. “Beckham is such a dogged self-improver that he took speech training to learn how to talk,” said Kuper for ESPN. “Now he can finally tell us who he is, and in complete sentences, too.”

And he did just that. He began by explaining where his hard work and dedication to excellence comes from: “My parents were very hard workers,” he told the interviewer. “My mum was a hairdresser, my dad was a gas-fitter. I used to see my dad go out at six in the morning and come back at seven in the evening. My hard work and the ethic comes from them.”

After discussing his admiration for his many coaches throughout the years, Beckham was asked if he would consider a coaching gig: “Umm, sometimes successful players don’t make great managers. I’m not passionate about being a manager. It’s not something I feel I will be great at.” He added that he’s more focused on his many business ventures, including his MLS team in Miami.

The summit’s moderator then asked about the former footballer’s greatest career accomplishment and regret. “But in my career, the one that makes me proudest was being captain of my country. Being given the captain’s armband by Peter Taylor, that was my personal proudest moment. To be able to lead your team, your players, your nation out into the World Cup finals, that doesn’t get much better.” His biggest regret was of course “To not win anything with England.”

After some time, the audience was able to ask a few questions, with one of them being Ronaldo vs. Messi. “If I had to say one, for one reason — it’s because of adidas — Messi.” While his favorite athletes to play with include “[Zinedine] Zidane, a genius in many ways, and a hard worker. And Ronaldo: Brazilian Ronaldo. [He] played with a smile on his face, every single game.”

One of the final questions included the possibility of a return to pro football. Beckham replied with “You know what? I’m 41. I’d crawl back to Manchester to play there again. But obviously it’s not realistic.”

And that was that. We probably won’t hear more than five worlds from him until Miami kicks off its first MLS game.