Sir Alex Ferguson says David Beckham's departure from Man Utd has long since been consigned to history.
United manager not paying attention to media hype
Sir Alex Ferguson says David Beckham's departure from Manchester United has long since been consigned to history.
The midfielder had enjoyed great success at Old Trafford when the decision was taken to sell him to Real Madrid in 2003.
He did not return to play at Old Trafford during his time with Real but, now with AC Milan, Beckham will take on his former club over two legs in the UEFA Champions League.
The San Siro clash will take place on 16th February with the return leg on 10th March and Ferguson knows what to expect when Beckham comes back to town.
He is anticipating a lot of media attention but insists there will be no loss of concentration from his players.
Asked about the Beckham's £25million move from Old Trafford, Ferguson told the club's official magazine
Inside United: "No regrets. We move on.
"The only difference with David's return to Manchester United compared with other players is that there will be a big media circus surrounding him when Milan arrive.
"He's such a high-profile celebrity - not just a high-profile footballer - and we haven't really seen anybody else return to the club in that situation.
"Our job is to concentrate on the football match and let the David Beckham media circus carry on - we know we're not going to stop it anyway."
World Cup
Ferguson patched up his well-publicised differences with Beckham long ago and is happy to see the 34-year-old doing well in Italy.
Beckham has joined Milan for a second loan spell from parent club Los Angeles Galaxy to stay sharp ahead of the World Cup.
"I think I told him myself last year when I saw him before our game against Inter that he should be thinking about getting back to Europe if he wanted to go to the World Cup," said Ferguson.
"And it looks like he might just get his wish now. He had a good spell with Milan last time, so it made sense to me to see him back there again."
