Who is the next Maradona?

[Mibu Clan]

No one will, if a superstar player like him is to appear they will be completely different...

There was no one like Pele after him, nor will Maradona nor Cruyff, Best, Zico, Platini ... ... ... you get the point... I hope :)

If the question is meant to be "who can be put in the same category" or can be, I'd say for sure Ronaldo, Zidane and Maldini... (I think some others as well)

As for potential, again for sure, C. Ronaldo, Messi and Ronaldinho (If he impacts games again with consistency)...

and hopefully Pato (Though I've not seen such potential, but one can always hope)

What I like about Messi over the others is not a superiority issue, rather the fact that he isn't a little ********** like the others... What I mean is Maradona or Pele, as examples, are players that didn't go to the floor crying VERY ********ING GAME!!

[sreeja]

Thierry Henry be the next maradona.

[mexicanplayer#19]

im sorry man but messi will not be maradona. as good as he is maradonna was simply amazing with the ball him and the ball were one. also i beleive kurkich (excuse my spelling) and dos santos will be better than messi.


Messi is way better than maradona. Messi is way faster than maradona. If you think messi and the ball arent one, you are out of your mind.

[gmonn]

Messi is way better than maradona. Messi is way faster than maradona. If you think messi and the ball arent one, you are out of your mind.

I don't know about better than Maradona yet, but one with the ball no question. And they caught the moment of his mystic realization on film.

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/9263/021ef4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[TKORL]

huh?

[mexicanplayer#19]

I don't know about better than Maradona yet, but one with the ball no question. And they caught the moment of his mystic realization on film.

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/9263/021ef4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

You actually dont think messi is better than maradona. Why?

[gmonn]

You actually dont think messi is better than maradona. Why?

Well, I'm comparing Maradona in his prime to Messi at 20, but Messi's shooting is not as good as Maradona's yet, especially on free kicks, and Messi's passing isn't at Maradona's level, although just recently he's started busting out some Maradona passes. I'm hoping for more of that when he comes back. Dribbling, check. Outrageous touch, check. Hand of God, check. Hunger, desire, check.

[Moishe]

You actually dont think messi is better than maradona. Why?

I rate Messi very high these days but having seen both play live, I'm more interested why you see Messi as already better than El Diego.

[Tribune]

Well, I'm comparing Maradona in his prime to Messi at 20, but Messi's shooting is not as good as Maradona's yet, especially on free kicks, and Messi's passing isn't at Maradona's level, although just recently he's started busting out some Maradona passes. I'm hoping for more of that when he comes back. Dribbling, check. Outrageous touch, check. Hand of God, check. Hunger, desire, check.

You forget to add that Maradona was not injury prone. Messi's injury problems start to become a little bit too many for a player of his age.
Messi will be 21 in June and he already had one major injury per season which prevented to become a consistent contributor to his team's success until now.
If this happens now, when he is young and fresh, what would happen when his 26-28, and the mileage on his body will pile up ? Years of professional sport take their toll and if Messi has such problems when he barely started his career, I'm afraid he could become a case of "career-cut-short-by-injuries" worse than Van Basten or Ronaldo.

[phil80]

Well, I'm comparing Maradona in his prime to Messi at 20, but Messi's shooting is not as good as Maradona's yet, especially on free kicks, and Messi's passing isn't at Maradona's level, although just recently he's started busting out some Maradona passes. I'm hoping for more of that when he comes back. Dribbling, check. Outrageous touch, check. Hand of God, check. Hunger, desire, check.
Messi has more humility, this will help him get people to rate him better. Messi is the only player around that has the potential to reach Maradona's level, others may have the talent (ie Ronaldo, Robinho) but dont possess the necessary footballing IQ.

[COMANDOSVR999]

ninguno de los anteriores
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XliEY8t_T_Y

PD MARADONA SOLO AHI UNO


pero este puede hacer su propio nombre aya bien alto

[bosterosoy]

Messi is way better than maradona. Messi is way faster than maradona. If you think messi and the ball arent one, you are out of your mind.

Maradona was very quick, Messi may be faster, but definitely not WAY faster as you say. Messi and the ball are one, ok, but so was Maradona and the ball. Messi is a great dribbler, but I still would give that advantage to Maradona. Then not to mention other thinks like shooting (adv: Maradona), passing (adv: Maradona), heart (adv: Maradona), free kicks (adv: Maradona), intelligence (adv: Maradona), vision (adv: Maradona) you see how this is going?

[gmonn]

Maradona was very quick, Messi may be faster, but definitely not WAY faster as you say. Messi and the ball are one, ok, but so was Maradona and the ball. Messi is a great dribbler, but I still would give that advantage to Maradona. Then not to mention other thinks like shooting (adv: Maradona), passing (adv: Maradona), heart (adv: Maradona), free kicks (adv: Maradona), intelligence (adv: Maradona), vision (adv: Maradona) you see how this is going?

Don't forget we're comparing Maradona at his fullest development to a Messi who is still a kid, and is already up there with the best dribblers ever. He's nowhere near his prime, and isn't lacking in any of those other departments--they're not fully developed yet. And this is a kid who's not going to get distracted, and who's not going to lose interest in developing himself (coughRonaldinho). Only injuries can stop him.

[bosterosoy]

Don't forget we're comparing Maradona at his fullest development to a Messi who is still a kid, and is already up there with the best dribblers ever. He's nowhere near his prime, and isn't lacking in any of those other departments--they're not fully developed yet. And this is a kid who's not going to get distracted, and who's not going to lose interest in developing himself (coughRonaldinho). Only injuries can stop him.

I think the young Maradona was better than Messi is now

[gmonn]

I think the young Maradona was better than Messi is now

Maradona was Messi's age at Argentinos Juniors, here's 10 minutes of highlights for your viewing pleasure.

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Here's some of Messi at the same age (no fat man to stop him).

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m-A7-QcTZew

[Moishe]

Gtgunning I didn't understand the comment about "no fat man to stop him" maybe an explanation would help. For all the accolades that Messi is clearly worthy and deserving of, at a comparable age to Diego, he still comes up a bit short. Will he be that good? It's highly possible and barring an injury plagued career, could be that great. In the areas we all agree Messi needs and likely will improve upon, Maradona was already ahead of Messi at the same age. Those areas would be distribution, decision making and set pieces.

[gmonn]

Gtgunning I didn't understand the comment about "no fat man to stop him" maybe an explanation would help. For all the accolades that Messi is clearly worthy and deserving of, at a comparable age to Diego, he still comes up a bit short. Will he be that good? It's highly possible and barring an injury plagued career, could be that great. In the areas we all agree Messi needs and likely will improve upon, Maradona was already ahead of Messi at the same age. Those areas would be distribution, decision making and set pieces.

Sure, in the Maradona clips he's running through a team, and it looks a little suspicious, and suddenly a huge fat guy runs out on the field, grabs him, hugs him, and maybe does an interview? :) Some commercial...I had the sound turned off.

[Moishe]

Sure, in the Maradona clips he's running through a team, and it looks a little suspicious, and suddenly a huge fat guy runs out on the field, grabs him, hugs him, and maybe does an interview? :) Some commercial...I had the sound turned off.

Gotcha and thanks. I wasn't glued to the monitor when watching so I had to go back and watch again.

[JuveFE]

I rate Messi very high these days but having seen both play live, I'm more interested why you see Messi as already better than El Diego.

I agree with you moishe. can't understand why people are putting a 20 year old messi ahead of diego already. I'm a huge messi fan just like the next guy on here but to say he's better than diego is not right. He may 1 day accomplish what diego did but he's not there yet. People get excited and so they should when watching messi week in and week out put on a show but what people seem to forget or never saw is that deigo put on a show in napoli week in and week out. to me he's the greatest ever. and for some people who say that messi can do this and that better than diego need to get a clue before you comment like that. go watch a tape of diego in his prime and watch how great he really was.

TBH I hope he ends up better than diego. It would great for argentina. But he's not there yet.

[Moishe]

I agree with you moishe. can't understand why people are putting a 20 year old messi ahead of diego already. I'm a huge messi fan just like the next guy on here but to say he's better than diego is not right. He may 1 day accomplish what diego did but he's not there yet. People get excited and so they should when watching messi week in and week out put on a show but what people seem to forget or never saw is that deigo put on a show in napoli week in and week out. to me he's the greatest ever. and for some people who say that messi can do this and that better than diego need to get a clue before you comment like that. go watch a tape of diego in his prime and watch how great he really was.

TBH I hope he ends up better than diego. It would great for argentina. But he's not there yet.

The problem is some rate based on what he should do not on what he's already accomplished. At the club level I have arguments that he is when healthy the best player in the world. As for international form, he is just now (over about three matches) showing what he can do and it is a far cry from a Maradona type performance. Like you said, I too would love to see a player from Argentina surpass El Diego but it just hasn't happened yet. To top it all off, I'm totally against over-hyping young players as the end result is that they usually get looked upon as failures even if they have solid careers.