David Beckham is one for springing surprises on people. His 1997/98 opener lob from the halfway line. His garish sarong. His infamous 1998 World Cup exit. His move to LA Galaxy.

He surprised many by maintaining his ambition to play for England by maneuvering a Loan deal to Milan. He also sprang a further surprise by playing considerably well for the Rossoneri.

Now the cherry on the cake has well and truly arrived. [Read the rest of this entry »]

The Guardian reports that Sir Alex Ferguson has given his first full interview for nearly ten years, with Sir David Frost the lucky interviewer (presumably it needed to be someone to match Fergie on the prefix front). You can see the interview on Sky Sports this evening and many of his comments are revealing, especially those concerning Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best player in the world.

Indeed, the Scot seems to be in a bullish mood when it comes to keeping hold of the Portuguese forward, who has himself confirmed that he’ll make a statement about his future in the next couple of days.

“I’m confident about that, very confident. It’s a game they [Real Madrid] play all the time and in the past they’ve done it with [David] Beckham, they’ve done it with [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, they’ve done it with my fitness coach last summer, so we’re used to it. And it’s a great, in a way it’s a compliment to the standard of players that we have and we always seem to produce, but I am more than confident Cristiano will be there next year.”

Erm, pardon me for saying, but didn’t Becks and RVN leave for Madrid in the end? Not exactly going to inspire confidence among Manchester United fans is it? However, it’s an entertaining interview nonetheless, where Fergie cites Cantona as his best ever player and claims he was wrong to sell Jaap Stam.

David Bentley still hasn’t signed his new contract at Blackburn Rovers, lending further support to the argument that the winger will be moving to pastures new in the summer. Unsurprisingly, Chelsea appear to be in the running for the England international, who have just the 137 midfielders on their books at the moment and could do with a little more competition for places. The other team in the running appear to be Tottenham ‘we want lots of England players – at any price’ Hotspur, with The Sun reporting that Mark Hughes is unlikely to tie his star player down.

Asked at yesterday’s England press conference whether he had signed his deal, Bentley replied: “No I haven’t.”

The FA media chief then moved in to stop him answering further questions.

Blackburn missed out on Europe this season and Bentley admitted watching the Champions League final had whetted his appetite.

He said: “They’re the matches I want to play in. I want to reach the top of my game and I haven’t done that yet.

“I wouldn’t say I’m impatient — but I’m hungry for success.”

It’s unlikely Bentley is going to enjoy much success at Ewood Park, unless that is how an 8th-placed finish in the Premier League can be described. I wonder if Arsene Wenger wishes he had kept on to the talented and outspoken winger, who has shone for Blackburn to the extent where many now regard him as Beckham’s natural successor in the national team.

These days Blackburn Rovers winger David Bentley is hitting the headlines for the positive reasons. He is being favoured by England coach Fabio Capello in place of David Beckham and his club are eager to draw him into a long term contract deal. Bentley is also playing the football of his life these and when you consider that he is just 23, you know that this lad could go places in the future.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger too is heaping praise of this right sided midfielder. Bentley was actually an Arsenal youngster who came through the ranks at the north London club but failed to break into the first team because of stiff competition for places. After all, he had to get past the likes of Dennis Bergkamp to reach the top of the pecking order.

Wenger is sure that Bentley has confident and that he will be future star. The French “professor” says:

Bentley is having a good development in his career and I am very happy for him,” said the Arsenal manager.I let him go at a moment where I could have said ‘no, you stay here’ – but I was also conscious there were big players in front of him and he was not experienced enough.You have to consider is it fair to them not to let them go, even if it hurts you later.I knew there would be some stage where people said ‘why did you let him go?’ I am then happy someone asks me that question because it means he has been a success elsewhere.He would play here now, whether he would be a regular or not, I don’t know, but he has the quality.

Any chance of the Gunners re-signing in the player from Blackburn?

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The Times is reporting that although Fabio Capello has left David Beckham out of the England squad, he still has a chance of moving beyond his current tally of 99 caps. Times journo Matt Dickinson writes:

“Beckham was told over the telephone by Capello late on Wednesday evening that he had been left out because he could not be match-fit after three months without a competitive game.”

Capello himself said:

“The reason that David is not in the squad is because he has not had any real match practice since playing in November,” Capello said. “I advised David that he is still part of my plans and once he is playing regularly in America we will look closely at him again.”

But underneath the optimism that Beckham will live to fight another day is the fact that the LA Galaxy don’t start their season until March 29; three days after Capello’s second game in charge against France. Is Beckham paying the price for waltzing off to the LA Galaxy?

Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday claimed that Ronaldo’s excellent free kick goal in United’s 2-0 win over Portsmouth, was the best ever in Premier League history. The Lord of the Ferg drooled:

“Have I seen a better free-kick in the Premier League? No, that must be the best.

“It was within two or three inches of the junction of the crossbar and post. No goalkeeper would have saved it.

“It was a marvellous hit. Ryan Giggs used to take them for us and so did David Beckham.

“But Cristiano’s strike rate is definitely the best — it’s phenomenal.

“It was a fantastic performance — one of our best of the season. I can’t believe it only ended up 2-0.”

And as for the man himself, Ronnie chirped:

“That was probably my best-ever goal. I work on this in training and I am very pleased to score.”

So was Ronaldo’s effort the best ever in the Premier League, and can it really be possible that he has already scored 27 goals this season?

The Times’ potent blunderbuss of twin journo’s; Martin Samuel and Oliver Kay, reckon that David Beckham might not be receiving his 100th cap in the friendly bout against Switzerland. Although Becks won’t feature, it is more to do with Capello’s desire to test out other more unfamiliar options rather than dropping Becks beyond all hope of getting a recall. Samuel and Kay write:

“The door will not be closed on Beckham, who will be eager to prove his fitness once the Major League Soccer season starts in late March, but, even if he is named in Capello’s provisional 30-man squad this afternoon, the expectation is that he will not make the cut when that list is trimmed to approximately 23 players who will be asked to report to the team’s base in Hertfordshire on Sunday evening.”

So, does Becks really deserve to even be in the squad?