'Beckham was the most overrated player in history' – Piers Morgan & Lineker in Twitter spat over England legend

David Beckham proved the flashpoint for a Twitter spat between Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan this week, after the latter claimed the ex-England international was the "most overrated player in history".

The former Manchester United midfielder, who retired in 2013, won league titles in four different countries and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Three Lions players of all-time.

Yet his achievements count for nothing according to divisive broadcaster Morgan, whose reductive claims about the ex-Real Madrid and LA Galaxy star stoked a passionate defence from another England stalwart in the shape of Lineker, with whom he shares an apparent love-hate relationship.

Morgan initially fanned opinion when posting an image of NFL and Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr amid the latter's triumph at Super Bowl LVI, captioned: "Great to watch a Beckham who can actually play football…"

Lineker's initial response chided the former for his comments, before Morgan fired back, adding: "You might want to suck up to him, for whatever reason, but Beckham was the most overrated player in history. Wouldn't have got onto the Arsenal Invincibles bench."

His assessment was countered by Lineker once more, who highlighted Beckham's honour roll, stating: "6 Premier Leagues, 2 FA Cups, 1 Champions League, 1 La Liga, 1 Ligue, 1 Ballon d’Or runner up. 115 caps for England, 59 as captain. One of the best crossers of the ball the game has ever seen. Yeah, overrated."

6 Premier Leagues, 2 FA Cups, 1 Champions League, 1 La Liga, 1 Ligue 1. Balón d’Or runner up. 115 caps for England, 59 as captain. One of the best crossers of the ball the game has ever seen. Yeah, overrated.