Beckham advises Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford

Former England captain David Beckham has advised Cristiano Ronaldo to finish his career at Manchester United if the Portuguese star decides to leave Real Madrid.

"If he decides to leave Real then, for me personally, it's back to United. I never had the opportunity to do that but I'm proud of the teams I played for after leaving United.

"Obviously given the chance once I'd left United, to have played for one of the biggest clubs in the world -- Real Madrid -- that was a dream. But I'd never advise any player not to return to United," Beckham was quoted as saying by the Daily Express on Friday.

"I'd never advise anyone against coming back to United. I'd have crawled back if I could," Beckham, who left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2003, added.

Ronaldo has been offered contracts by Chelsea and Paris St Germain should he decide to say goodbye to the Spanish giants. Since arriving at the Santiago Bernabeu, the star forward has scored 326 goals in 315 games to become Madrid's all-time leading scorer.

However, Ronaldo's future continues to be the subject of speculation.

"Cristiano is such a fans' favorite here - he was so successful here at Old Trafford and such a hard worker. Everyone you talk to that has played with him, been around his world, he's not just one of the most talented players in the game, he's a hard worker as well," Beckham said.

"If he decides to leave Real Madrid, then for me personally the only place he should go is back to United."

Manchester United playing style under current manager Louis van Gaal has come under a lot of criticism. Although Beckham refrained from directly criticising van Gaal, he opined that the tactics in his time under Sir Alex Ferguson were simple but effective.

"I think the style of football obviously has changed over the years, even when I was playing. It was a case of 'you need fast wingers to get to the bye line and cross it.' Fortunately, we had players like Ryan Giggs, Lee Sharpe and Andre Kanchelskis who could all go past defenders.

"I was lucky that the time I came into the team, it was about Roy Keane winning the ball in midfield, giving it to the wide players and we just needed a yard to cross it and then you had the likes of Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham or Dwight Yorke in the middle -- and that was our game," he remarked.

"But there's so many things that have changed over in recent years -- the boss (Ferguson) leaving, Giggsy finishing, Keany finishing, myself, Scholesy, Butty, the Nevs... there's so many things that have changed."