Was Piers Morgan right about ‘overrated’ David Beckham?

Controversial journalist, Piers Morgan labelled David Beckham “overrated” in a Twitter rant that has been opposed by many.

And even though admittedly Piers Morgan is wrong about a lot of things, he might have a point about the ‘legendary’ ex-England international and Manchester United superstar.

The general perception (well, not everyone but it does feel like the majority) of David Beckham is that he was a fantastic footballer, up there with the very best of his era.

He scored 127 goals and 211 assists in his career, when he played predominantly as either a right or central midfielder for some of the biggest teams in the world.

Apart from the English national team, Beckham starred for Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and even PSG towards the end of his career.

Judging by the level of clubs he represented, David Beckham was clearly a good player famed particularly for his supreme set-piece taking ability.

David Beckham was one of the best free-kick takers of his generation and often the set-piece specialist on every team he played, which says a lot about his abilities.

Beckham was teammates with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and other world-class free-kick takers, but he was still more often than not the free-kick taker.

While all of the above is true, David Beckham's supreme technique with set-pieces does not account for the rest of the flaws in his game.

The term “overrated” here does not mean he was not good because that would be a straight-up lie. It just addresses the overall mystique attached to Beckham’s career.

The justified hype for his set-piece abilities appeared to have been translated to other parts of his game, which makes him look better in hindsight than he actually was.

Beckham did not particularly excel in one position which is why managers often experimented with him in multiple positions. He did not have the energy required of a central midfielder nor the raw pace of a wide man.

That is not to say he was slow, but how does a player who did not particularly excel at the core requirements of his position get tagged as an all-time great?

At some point, all Beckham offered to teams was his technique with passes and set-pieces, which in itself is enough for most good players, let alone all-time greats.