BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Former England captain and AIA's global ambassador David Beckham has shared his thoughts with Xinhua on the future of the Three Lions and the potential successor of his trademark free-kick during his recent visit to China.
Beckham also gave a football class to a group of young Chinese players at the foot of Great Wall in northern Beijing during his visit on Saturday.
The following is the full text of his interview with Xinhua.
Xinhua: In current world football, which player's free-kick skills or goals remind you of your iconic bending free-kick?
Beckham: I think there are many great players out there that can take great free-kicks. I think every player has a different style. [If] you look at players like Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Lionel Messi, they've both got different styles of taking free-kicks but I think it is exceptional.
The player at the moment in English football that has the similar style to me and also can score great free-kicks is Kieran Trippier in Tottenham. And obviously for England he scored some great free-kicks. I think the way he plays and the way he takes free-kick is very similar.
Xinhua: The young England team made breakthrough in Russia World Cup this summer. Could fans expect more from them four years later in Qatar?
Beckham: I think we would like to see this team stay together for a while. I think they did a great job. They did really very well and excited the country with the way they played in Russia. Now it's up to the manager and players to progress and continue to be successful, successful and even more successful than they were in Russia. So I think it's an important time for our country and an important time for the young players. They are now young enough to be able to progress and to be able to learn and I think it's an exciting time for them.
Xinhua: Based on your experience and knowledge about Chinese football, how we can make a balance between inviting big names from overseas in Chinese Super League and keeping the patience to cultivate local young talents?
Beckham: That's always the question for most leagues around the world. It's not just here in China. In Europe, I was playing in a team that had Eric Cantona. He was one of the first real foreign players to come over and join the England premiership. And David Ginola, players like this.
Some people were skeptical about that but I always felt that when you bring European players in and when you bring big names in, it makes the league stronger and makes the league more popular.
There has to be a balance. Because obviously you want to bring great young players and great local players from China into the league and you want to be able to give them a chance. But there has to be a balance. I think it's important to progress the young players here and give them a chance then they [can] go into the national team and then for the national team to become more successful.
Xinhua: As for the patience, how long do we need to bring up a golden generation able to enter the World Cup regularly?
Beckham: I think it takes time. It does take time. You have a great country and some great young talents in this country. It's about giving them the chance and having the right coaches.
But it's about patience as well. We all want success today and we all want success tomorrow but like I said it's about patience as well.
