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Not many footballers can say they know Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham – but only one left Tom Huddlestone starstruck.
Former Tottenham, Hull City and Derby County star Huddlestone made a surprise switch to Manchester United in 2022, signing for the academy side as an over-23s player and since becoming a coach.
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Joining a year earlier was Ronaldo, who made a grand return to Old Trafford after 12 years away playing for both Real Madrid and Juventus, winning a further four Ballon d’Or trophies along the way.
But despite the Portuguese icon kicking up a stir in his second spell at United, Huddlestone was too busy with the academy to take much notice.
However, during his eight years at Spurs, only one player was so big he was too hard to ignore – Beckham, who had trained with the club in 2011 to build up his fitness.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein and former teammate Darren Bent, Huddlestone was asked what it was like to work with Ronaldo.
The ex-England international said: “From my point of view, being a coach with the academy you never really got to see the first-team environment.
“The club is in the spotlight 24/7 regardless and I think you bring one of the greatest players ever into that environment and it heightened everything.
“To be fair to him, even at 36/37 years old he was still producing goals on the pitch. [The United youngsters] grew up with Ronaldo being one of the top two players in the world for 10/15 years.
“So for them, as I say, it elevated the club to a different level, the lads are buzzing, a lot of our players go up and train with the first-team regularly.
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“Once they are in and around players such as that and they see the dedication it takes, whether that is little things like warm-ups and cooldowns, recovery, it is a good insight for them to realise what it takes, not only to get to the top but to stay there for a dozen years.
“I don’t think I actually saw him! We were in the same building but on opposite sides. I was too busy helping the youngsters develop.”
Goldstein further pushed Huddlestone on whether he was starstruck by anyone as a player, to which he said: “There was a time, and he almost looks like a wax figure in a good way, when Beckham came and trained at Tottenham.
“I think I had been in a couple of England squads with him before but you’re still in the changing room thinking, ‘He doesn’t look real!’
“You only see him on the telly generally but yeah, Becks is probably the only one.”
Beckham had been training with Tottenham despite being an LA Galaxy player at the time after the MLS season had finished.
There had been talk that the legendary player could sign for Spurs on a short-term deal with then-manager Harry Redknapp keen to get him to put pen to paper but an agreement was never reached.
Nevertheless, for Huddlestone it was an honour to see Becks in action – even if Ronaldo might have been largely forgotten about.
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