Almost exactly ten years ago David Beckham made his first-team debut for Manchester United. Since that day he has won five championships, two FA Cups and a European Cup as a Red Devil's regular. In addition he has appeared 54 times for England and inspirationally captained the side for the past two years.

Times have changed over the decade and Beckham will now find himself leading out his team at the BayArena tonight, a long way from the Goldstone Ground where he made his debut for the club on their way to a decade of dominance in which the No.7 has played an integral part.

Beckham's debut came in the League Cup tie away to Brighton and Hove Albion in September 1992 that ended in a 1-1 draw. A skinny 17-year old replaced Andrei Kanchelskis midway through the second half and he still has the shirt from the otherwise unremarkable occasion. The United goal that night was scored by Danny Wallace and Gary Walsh kept the scores level. This was pre-superstar United you see.

"He was just skin and bones then," Alex Ferguson remembers. "David was always going to be later to mature than others like Nicky Butt and Gary Neville. When we won the Youth Cup, he never got into the team until the semi-final but he was among that group of players you could sense that would never be stopped from making it into the first team. You always hope one or two will make it, but five or six might not happen again.

"He was a central midfield player really but he got in the team when we lost Kanchelskis and he learnt the job. He worked hard at it because that was his ethic and he should be starting to reach his peak now. He is 27 and, with modern training and diet and so on, players can peak from his age until they are around 33."

Ferguson verdict is definitely that the best is still to come. He has given Beckham the captain's armband in the absence of Roy Keane, but otherwise the United manager has been reluctant to single him out from the rest of his generation.

"I gave David the captaincy because I felt he was always going to be there - you don't want it to be changed every game," Ferguson said. "I have also been impressed with the way he has taken the role with England. I wouldn't have seen him as a captain of that nature. He is a quiet lad but he has fitted in well."

And one more milestone for the kid from Leytonstone, as he will equal Gary Neville's record of 68 Champions League appearances when he steps out against Leverkusen tonight.

Ten Becks Facts

1. England debut v Moldova in Chisinau, a World Cup qualifier in September 1996. It was Glenn Hoddle's first match in charge and England won 3-0. David played the whole 90 minutes.

2. Wembley debut for England v Poland in World Cup qualifier in October 1996.

3. First England goal v Colombia in Lens in '98 World Cup Finals, from a free-kick, naturally.

4. First England captaincy v Italy in Turin, a friendly in November 2000.

5. Scored the injury-time goal v Greece, again from free-kick, that clinched qualification for the 2002 World Cup in the Far East.

6. First England penalty in shootout v Belgium in Casablanca, in King Hassan II Cup pre-'98 World Cup.

7. Most memorable penalty v Argentina in World Cup 2002 - Brooklyn summed up every fans feelings afterwards saying, 'Good goal, Daddy!'

8. Won his 50th senior cap v Sweden during World Cup 2002.

9. He won 9 caps at Under-21 level.

10. He made five appearances on loan at Preston in 1994-95. He scored against Doncaster and Fulham.