That's asking an awful lot of a young man whose at no point in his career shown a glimpse of what Diego had at the same age. It's comments like yours that place such unreal expectations that they could do nothing but fail. Let him work his magic and then we can talk if not, let him grow in the first Cesc not some god he'll never be.
Correct. Not much else needs to be said. That's exactly what I said in my post . Then when that happens make your claims. Not now when it's not even close. Hell by the time Maradona was Cesc's age he had already scored over 100 goals for his club.
Nope, you said "any top 4 team". There's no reason why Landon Donovan cannot start for a top 4 team at his best.
But he problem is he hasnt been "at his best" for years...... If anything he has gotten worse and he is in his supposed "prime" years.
Wasn't Ortega supposed to be the next Maradona? And if so, isn't it time for him to get started now? He's probably like 35 years old. Seriously though, calling players "the new Maradona" is ridiculous, what does that even mean? Every player is different. Clearly they're not going to BE Maradona, they're gonna be themselves.
I've always taken the stance as an Argentino that we are notorious for hyping our youngsters to the point of no return. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that silly comment about who is the "next Maradona" only to see that particular player be nothing more than a solid contributer or for that matter a flop. You are correct that it's silly and what exactly does it mean? As for Ariel Ortega, I give him more stick than most any gayina player ever. He was tremendously talented but was never able to cope with the expectations put upon him. I believe all the pressure contributed to his documented substance abuse issues and in the eyes of many he is a failure. Too bad because as much as it pains me to say, he was a blessed talent on his day.
To be the new Maradona, younger players have to be called the "new you." We're seeing even younger players being called the "new Messi," so I guess it's him...
no one. period. maradona is maradona no one will ever be him. maradona was the team. messi is an amazing player but...he doesnt have thet certain something maradona had. and no i dont mean a drug addiction...
If Maradona was the team, why did he win only one World Cup? Several Brazilians have won more. Nobody is the team. Probably in the future, young people will consider Maradona overrated, just as they now do Pele. They will look at images of Messi scoring the same goals, and say how much faster it looks than Maradona's images.
What does the amount of World Cup victories have to do with anything? Maradona was a complete package, he was the heart of the Argentina NT, the machine that made the midfield tick, who also scored loads of goals and was an exceptional free kick taker. So far Messi has only proven to be an amazing striker.
There's been lots of those "heart of the team" players. Maradona is there for his special skill and desire. Obviously it's a silly question, there is no next anybody. But if you want to choose, Messi is Argentine, has special skill, has great ambition and desire, and replicates Maradona's most famous goals. If you cloned Maradona you still wouldn't get the next Maradona!
In my lifetime (I just celebrated my 40th birthday) I have seen no player more capable of or likely to at any time change the outcome of a match. A single stroke from a brilliant free kick and the ability to dribble past multiple players at any given time are unmatched (and more qualities than I have time to mention) when combined in today's game. I do not believe that any player today is equally dominant. Diego was simply lethal.
I wanted to touch on this real quick. We all know about Diegos well documented troubles with cocaine and booze and I'll make no excuses for an addict. This particular thing is one reason why no player today will ever come close to being Diego. His passion for this game and dogged determination while dealing with his lifestyle was sadly awesome. You hear posters make comments about why can't this player or that player be named as good. I look at all the current "greats" that are under-performing because they are more concerned with the night life than the game life. That desire to perform, win and be the best is what puts him apart. How many Cups he won really is irrelevant. No one player in the history of the World Cup was as dominating as Diego was in 1986. Sure he had a good defense but his abilities were always the X factor. Everyone throughout time will always have detractors and no doubt Diego will be the same. Fact is some are already calling him overrated. I guess they never saw him play outside of Youtube. I really pity them but still respect their opinions. No offense but nobody has the heart of Maradona. While others do possess them they are a mere molecule compared to the way Diego played day in and day out until the end of his career. As far as Messi is concerned he does have special skill and all the attributes you've mentioned but scoring nice gols was not what Maradona was about. The biggest difference can be seen you watch Lionel hang his head when things are not going right. That was never the case with Maradona. The man would give his life if it meant winning. Also it's not fair to mention Messi in the same breath as Maradona as he's arguably not even the best or most influential Argentino at the moment. I just turned 39 myself and couldn't have said it better.
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.
i dont think dos santos will surpass messi, krkic maybe but he needs to learn how to shield defenders better since he is constantly being pushed around. He's still young so he still has time, but messi does a good job using his positioning skills to shield defenders away. Maradona with his short stature had incredible upper body strength and was able to keep players off of him.
LOL based on what? Dos Santos has done nothing for Barca. Messi was already scoring goals for Barca when he was younger than Dos Santos. They should worry about being better than Sergio Aguero (who just won the Golden Boy as best U-21 player in Europe) before they can be better than Messi. That being said Bojan definitely has te potential to be as good as Messi is now at the same age. We'll see how he develops.
Bojan will only surpass Messi if Messi has a sudden drop-off in quality in 4-5 years. Which could happen considering he won't be running those constant high-energy sprints at age 27, and if he doesn't develop his distribution, then we could see a decline as fast as his rise.