Yes, this is headline news.

I wrote way back in June 1998 about Mr Beckham and the “overratedness” of the then-foetal brand.  I think time has gone on to show him to be the fourth best of the famous Man U midfield quartet behind Keane, Giggs and Scholes (in that order).

In that ten year old column that saw me half-wave a flag for the long-gone Darren Anderton, I said:

“Beckham apparently represents the future of English football. By that I take it they mean he is the British answer to the many worldwide underachieving whining prima donnas that are already in existence. He played in every qualifying game but failed to deliver a single goal or a stand-out performance while Shearer, Ince and even Gascoigne turned out some excellent performances during these games.

This, effectively, is what the Inter Milan director is saying.  Beckham is not and never has been world class.  Listening to nauseating British pundits over the last ten years you’d swear Beckham was Pele and Best rolled in to one.  Of course, deep down, they didn’t mean it.  I mean if Wayne Bridge was to have a half dozen stand out games for Chelsea they’d probably proclaim him “top class” while dismissing foreign full-backs as diving little tykes.  Well you got to give the Sun readership something to hang their xenophobic hats on.