"If it (DB07) turns out anything like I experienced playing for Inter Milan, he won't want to come back to England.
"When you're playing for United you want to stay there for life. Winning the league in 1993 was the highlight of my career.
"I certainly never wanted to leave and I hated United for letting me go. But when Fergie told me he'd accepted an offer from Inter Milan, you know your time's up.
"I left at the same time as Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis and there was an outcry from all the fans. But United still won the league again the following season.
"Going to Italy and learning the language turned out to be the best thing I've ever done and in the end I didn’t want to come back.
"I was ready to sign on for another four years. But my youngest son had missed 2-and-a-half years of English and if we hadn’t returned when we did, he would have been too far behind.
"But I've always wished I'd stayed in Italy. It's the one big regret I have.
"I was in a similar position to Beckham when I left Manchester United. I never wanted to go but an offer came in which United decided to accept and that was it.
"What they did after selling me proved it was not a mistake but I'm not so sure about Beckham.
"He's vital to Manchester United and I think they have taken a huge gamble by getting rid of him.
"I'm not saying Fergie was right or wrong to sell him. But Becks just has to put it behind him, get on with the job in Madrid and learn Spanish — and then his football will speak for itself."
he goes on to say: "I was playing golf with my best mate Ryan Giggs in Portugal last week and kept hearing how things were going crazy back home with all the business about Becks, Harry Kewell and Russian takeovers at Chelsea. Actually, we spent much of the round talking not about Becks’ move to Madrid but Giggsy’s silly bleached-blond hair!"