Best player on this planet by a country mile and he has to be regarded now as the best player ever.. Compare him to Pele and Maradona. Pele scored a hell of a lot of goals but he only played his club football in Brazil and the USA. Pele Years Team Appsâ (Gls)â 1956â1974 Santos 800 (659) 1975â1977 New York Cosmos[2] 106 (64) Total 1220 (1152) National team 1957â1971 Brazil[3] 92 (77) Very impressive national team stats though. Maradona - Fantastically skillfull player but his goals record aint all that really. Senior career* Years Team Appsâ (Gls)â 1976â1981 Argentinos Juniors 167 (115) 1981â1982 Boca Juniors 40 (28) 1982â1984 Barcelona 36 (22) 1984â1991 Napoli 188 (81) 1992â1993 Sevilla 26 (5) 1993â1994 Newell's Old Boys 5 (0) 1995â1997 Boca Juniors 30 (7) Total 492 (258) National team 1977â1994 Argentina 91 (34) Now Messi. He has the skill of Maradona and the goals of Pele but, and this is the thing, he is plying his trade for a proper team playing against other proper teams. Messi Senior career* Years Team Appsâ (Gls)â 2003â2004 Barcelona C 8 (5) 2004â2005 Barcelona B 22 (6) 2004â Barcelona 201 (147) National teamâ¡ 2005 Argentina U20 7 (6) 2008 Argentina U23 5 (2) 2005â Argentina 67 (22) Messi ! will there ever be a player better than him ? I doubt it.
Until he signs for SAFC and helps us finally win a derby...i'll reserve judgement on how good he is... .............................................................. Nah honestly, he's canny....but best ever?....impossible to say yey or ney.
For me, being hyper critical, he needs to prove himself at international level i.e. winning world cup with Argentina and maybe provig he can play in another league with different group of players, to prove he really is the best ever.
This whole "he must prove himself by winning the World Cup" is such a load of bullshit it really is. No team is a one man team. Messi has 10 other players around him and unfortunately, he cannot do a thing about them. No matter how good Messi is, if the other 10 players aren't good enough, then the team isn't going to win it. Why should the lack of quality in those other players have any influence over how good Messi is as an individual? It makes no sense. I think Messi will easily become the best player in history. A lot of people forget that he's only 24, and if most other players are anything to go by, he hasn't even reached his peak yet, and could have another 8 or 9 years in him. He'll probably only improve further and smash every record going. As for Argentina, they could probably actually do quite well, but they need a better manager who understands how to get the best out of Messi. Atm it looks like they're trying to get the team to play like Barca for the purposes of Messi, but they simply don't have the players for it. Argentina might push for the World Cup in the coming years but they need to get that sorted and also choose the right defenders and midfielders, which is a department they're lacking in.
I think that's bollocks, why should he have to prove it in another league, he is in arguably the best footballing country in the world and as for proving it at International level, Club level is ahead of International level now I think, especially the Champions League, which he completely dominates. Probably be the 4 year in a row he is top scorer. I do think Messi is the best ever. But one thing in the OP "Pele scored a hell of a lot of goals but he only played his club football in Brazil and the USA.", Brazil was the best league around those times, majority of the best Brazilians stayed in Brazil.
Never thought about that and that is something I have said on occasion. Were there any inter-continental tournaments backing that up?
Just looking a Messi's honours there and it is just mind blowing, personally I think the lad is currently the best in the world and will go down as one of the all time greats, the scary thing is he is only 24, providing he doesn't pick up any serious injuries the lad is halfway through his footballing career. A few of my mates would disagree and say Ronaldo is the best player because he done the business in the prem and Messi is only a one league man. I would love it if Messi did move to the prem and wouldn't be surprised in a few years with the prices of players get more ridiculous as time goes on that a club attempts to sign him. The lad has time on his side, if he could add a world cup, copa america to his honours then the talk about he can't do it for country would disappear. For me a great of the game
Messi is the best player in the best team. He is Barcelona's best player ever, already. But he cant be called best of all time when you consider what Maradona achieve with Argentina and Napoli. Not to mention his ridiculous talent. Until Messi wins the World Cup by being the best player in the tournament ala Maradona, Ronaldo, Zidane. Also, if he ever left Barcelona to achieve things and still play to his level at another club in another country ala Maradona, Ronaldo (both of em), Zidane....he isnt their yet. But he obviously has the potential.
I am not disputing Messi is clearly the best player in the world right now. Pele and Maradona gained their status on the world stage and at big tournaments. Maradona pretty much single handedly (literally) won the world cup for Argentina in 1986. Admittedly Pele was surrounded by absolute class in Brazil's world cup wins. I would actually like to see Barcelona play for a couple of months without Messi. Not saying they are a one man team but he has scored and probably assisted in a ridiculous high percentage of their goals.
If Messi came to Everton or Sunderland or us and took one of them to a league title then I would place him up there with Maradona!
