‘Looks like a wax figure’ – What it is like to work with David Beckham & Cristiano Ronaldo as ex-England international admits to being left starstruck

The former England international, who spent time with Tottenham and Hull City in his playing days, made a surprise move to Manchester United in 2022 as he became an overage player in their academy ranks and eventually a youth team coach.

Huddlestone’s career has seen him play with and against some of the very best in the business, but a Manchester United legend – who is now working with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami – still boasted the aura to make him lose his cool. Huddlestone has told talkSPORT when asked if he has ever been starstruck: “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.”

Five-time Ballon d’Or Ronaldo may have fallen into that category had Huddlestone seen more of him during the Portuguese’s ill-fated second stint at Old Trafford, but the all-time great still made a positive impact on the Red Devils’ stars of tomorrow. Huddlestone added on sharing training facilities with Ronaldo: “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. 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.”

Ronaldo was released by United in November 2022, freeing him to head for Saudi Arabia and link up with Al-Nassr. He is currently preparing for a reunion with eternal rival Lionel Messi, with Beckham’s Inter Miami side due in the Middle East for the Riyadh Cup at the end of January.