David Beckham has revealed he spent hours speaking to Sir Alex Ferguson to pick his brains on how to run a football club.

The former England captain is one of the three owners of Inter Miami, alongside Jose Mas and managing owner Jorge Mas. The trio became the sole owners of the Major League Soccer outfit in 2021. 

Sir Alex and Beckham won six Premier League titles togetherGetty

Ferguson was Manchester United manager throughout Beckham’s entire Old Trafford career, and despite their occasional disagreements, the pair share a close relationship to this day.

And the Scot clearly had a huge impact on the former Real Madrid Galactico, as he went to him for his advice on running Inter Miami.

When asked on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast what Ferguson told him, he said: “I went to him once and said to him, I’m starting this team, how would you run it? 

“How would [you do it]? Your philosophy, I want to learn from you. And he sat me down for a couple of hours and he told me what I should do and what players I should be looking for and how I should run the academy. 

“And that’s really what I’ve tried to do. And then I also learnt from people like Florentino Perez. You know, with Florentino, he has this crazy vision of always bringing the greatest players to the club and building this unbelievable stadium. 

“And, you know, with what the boss [Ferguson] told me, the boss was like, okay, the academy is really important.”

And in wanting to create an incredible youth set up off the back of his former manager’s advice, Beckham discovered something about the MLS that left him mind blown.

He continued: “So when I first moved to LA, I turned around to the commissioner of the league and said ‘how many academies are in the league?’ He said, none. And I was like, ‘how is that possible? Where do the players come from?’

“He said, ‘well, there just isn’t’. I said, okay, for longevity and the future of this league and the future of this game in this country, academy systems are important. 

Beckham has made Inter Miami the place to go for ageing football legendsGetty

“I was brought up in one, you were brought up in one, you know how important academy systems are. You have to have one in each of the clubs in MLS. Now, every one of the clubs in MLS has that academy system and all of these young players that are coming through, you know, they’re all coming through this academy system. 

“And that’s not just good for the game, it’s good for every MLS club, but it’s good for the future of the country in America, you know. To have all of these players coming through, you know, from local areas is such an important part of it. 

“And as much as I love seeing the players and the team that we have created at Miami, you know, obviously, you’ve got Leo [Lionel Messi], you’ve got Sergio Busquets you’ve got Julie Alba, you’ve got Luis Suarez. But when I see them passing around the pitch, and all of a sudden, they pass to Benjamin Krumashi, who has come through our academy from a young kid, and he’s now playing with these players.

“That makes me proud. That makes me proud. And it’s such an important part of the future of the game there.”

Beckham signed footballing icon Messi at Inter Miami last summer following the Argentinian’s departure from Paris Saint-Germain.

Securing the signature of the record Ballon d’Or winner and reigning World Cup champion was no easy task.

But the former England superstar says that once again, Ferguson helped him bring the Barcelona icon to the club.

Messi and Beckham have been a match made in heavenAFP

The 49-year-old said: “So a lot has changed over the years [with MLS] and I feel very proud that I’ve been part of that change, but I know that there’s still a lot of work to do, but I think what we’ve done in Miami, when you bring someone like Leo to America, I always said that it was our gift. 

“As an ownership group and as a person that owns the club, I wanted to do something for the game, but I also wanted to do something for America because they’ve given me so much over the years and they’ve given me so much love that to bring Leo to inspire the next generation of players in America, that’s what we wanted to do.

“I think that one of the things that I learned from the boss over the years, and it wasn’t something that he specifically told me, one of the things that I learned from the boss was it’s not about bringing the biggest and best players, it’s about bringing the right players. 

“If you can bring the biggest and best players that is the right player, then there’s not many of them around, but with Leo, what we knew that we were bringing and I knew that yes, he was going to be successful on the field, but I also knew that he was going to help our club off the field.”

Since signing for Miami in 2023, Messi has made 35 appearances, scoring 30 goals and securing 17 assists.

As captain, he led his side to winning their first trophy, the Leagues Cup, in 2023.

This meant the team qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup for the first time.

Inter Miami are currently top of the Eastern Conference in the MLS, eight points ahead of second place Columbus Crew.

Listen to the full Rio Meets Becks interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.