David Beckham didn't stutter when revealing his biggest career regret and it had nothing to do with Man Utd

Former England captain David Beckham is 50 years old today and can look back on a glittering career as a footballer, a football club owner and genuine top-level world-famous megastar. Not bad.

Beckham achieved incredible things in football and navigated a wonderful playing career that took in some of the world's leading clubs, not to mention some of the finest cities on the face of the earth.

He played 115 times for a country of which he is ferociously proud, won ten league titles in four different countries, and bagged the Champions League for good measure. In 1999, he won the treble with Manchester United and was beaten to the Ballon d'Or only by Rivaldo.

Beckham is the co-owner of Inter Miami, fast becoming the most potent brand in Major League Soccer if not exactly a consistent MLS Cup contender, though that seems to be in the post too.

But we all have regrets in life, even Beckham. In keeping with what truly drove him throughout his career, through all the celebrity and notoriety and business success, Beckham's biggest career regret was all about the football.

In January 2007, Beckham announced that he'd signed a contract with MLS club LA Galaxy and would leave Real Madrid at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Out of favour with head coach Fabio Capello and a Galactico without the trophies to prove it, Beckham sought to build the kind of legacy in California that only a player of his cultural heft could build.

Real Madrid had informed Beckham that they wouldn't be renewing his contract and subsequently discovered a thing or two about him.

Beckham rallied. He always did. Capello was won over. Real Madrid were crowned champions of La Liga.

All of them regretted their premature parting.

David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane played alongside each other at Real Madrid (Image: Getty)

The six-time Premier League winner later told Diario de Noticias (via Sky Sports) that he left the Spanish capital with lots left to give.

"I felt capable of staying for longer at Real Madrid," said Bolas de Oro.

"I think I could have still played for three more seasons at the highest level, but as the club told me in January that they did not want to renew my contract I took this decision."

Beckham admitted that his "heart ached" the day he and Real Madrid won their first and only title together, knowing his time in Spain would soon be up.

His early years in MLS were far from an easy ride for Beckham and the Galaxy but they gradually got it right too.

He played a couple of loan spells with AC Milan – neither wholly welcomed by the Galaxy's vocal support but ultimately outweighed by the two MLS titles that followed – and enjoyed a short contract at Paris Saint-Germain to see out his club career.