Absolutely. Iniesta is like James Bond - he never seems to break into a sweat. Götze might become that good one day, but reaching even 2/3 of Iniesta's capability would make him one of the best German players of the last 30 years. But I still think that Götze will be better than even Özil by the World Cup. They are probably even in terms of talent, but Götze is more cocky and less afraid to take the lead. He has Müller's confidence and Özil's skill. Right now - in order - Özil, Götze, Reus and Müller are undoubtedly the four best German attacking midfielders. Gündogan could be in that list in place of Müller if he was played in the position of his pre-BvB time.
It is accurate. There is a reason that he only plays in CB during an injury crisis (Metzelder and Papadopolous both out). There is no way that Metzelder is prefered by multiple coaches if Hoewedes is such a great CB.
You are surely overrating Iniesta. He is not better than Kahn, Matthäus or to use someone who played in his position, Schuster.
What a weak argument. I'm not going to lecture you on this. Please show interest in the club and find out yourself. Höwedes is not rated less than Papadoupolos, Metzelder, or Matip at CB whatsoever.
Don't think they are even at all. Götze has some way to go to catch Özil who is still at the top of the order in terms of German players. The former will have to have an incredible season next year to be better by the World Cup.
Yeah, Gotze's close quarters possession is special, and he's got a great eye and passing, but he's not on Ozil's level yet. I still rate Reus higher because he's more diverse, the kid's a great shooter, is deadly on the wing or up the middle, hits better long balls and crosses than Goetze, and is a better open field player, and it's not like he can't dribble his way through traffic to.
Then he would play in that position. He has only ever played as a CB in the U21 side where he was a disaster next to Hummels or in an injury crisis at Schalke. The fact that you don't think Papadopolous is rated higher than him is amazing to me. He is one of the top rated young CBs in the Bundesliga. The "weak argument" here is you simply saying I'm wrong, but not backing it up with anything other than hyperbole.
IMO I would rate as Ozil-Reus-Gotze-Muller I think Gotze would surpass them all because one he has more innate skill(more than Reus or Muller), has more stamina (which Ozil doesnt), Never one to shy away from a challenge (Ozil), Has an eye for goal(less than reus and Muller but more than ozils), He is stocky too hope he doesnt get fat
He was not a "disaster". As long as you keep speaking in these extreme terms, there's no conversation here. And Papa is a good CB and potentially to be better but NOT better than Höwedes in defense or as an overall player. I'll be brief. He fills in when he has to. He's captain. If he wants to play CB he will, and he has but he is more than willing to play anywhere if that is asked of him. He doesn't prefer to play FB, that much is obvious and he's not as good there as he is in the center. But Schalke have problems at RB and if Uchida isn't available or patchy which he is, then Höwedes will always be an asset. The three best defenders at the club are Papa, Matip and Höwedes so if all are fit and one of them is versatile enough to play fullback, then why shouldn't he. He isn't a downgrade on Uchida whatsoever.
Provided that you've seen Iniesta play enough, only a very, very biased German fan could say that. He's probably better than all of those players.
I'd take Kahn over him, and Matthaus or Sammer v Iniesta is something decided by preference of style rather than which one is actually more talented.
Iniesta will outrank those mentioned players at the end of his career. He already is an all timer and not hard to imagine him being top 50 of all time by end of his career.
Sure, you could argue that he's had a better peak, but it has been only for the last 4 years. Where was Iniesta before all that? Benched for Deco, Van Bommel and Edmilson among others. On the other hand you've got Matthäus who's probably one of the top3 defensive mids of all time. Sammer again who's probably one of the finest sweepers after the all time greats like Beckenbauer, Baresi and Scirea. Schuster himself has had a comparable career to Iniesta's just at Barca, although they didn't have a Messi to inspire them to trebles then. Let's forget about that. I don't think Iniesta is clearly better than the likes of Brehme, Breitner, Rummenigge, Kahn and other such names. You obviously do, so we'll have to leave it at that. It's hard enough comparing players across eras, let alone players at different positions across eras.
Iniesta has for the past three or four years been the best player in arguably the best national teamof all time, has been the second best player in arguably the best club-side of all time, has won MoM awards in over 50% of all of Spain's knockout (or it might be all tournament matches; I can't remember) matches in the last three tournaments and has scored very important goals in CL and WC matches. Sergio Ramos has said that he is the most influential player he's played with. Those things show what he can do and has done. Then there are his skills which are unsurpassed and easier on the eye than anyone else's that I can think of. He'd already on the same level as any of the Germans you've mentioned and by the time he's done it'd be more appropriate to compare him to Beckenbauer, I reckon. PS. Schuster played Xavi's position and they used to say that he wore a glove on his foot because he was so smooth, but Iniesta has taken it to another level. PPS. Matthäus was only a defensive midfielder after he came back to Bayern in the 90s. At his peak he was an all-action central midfielder. Sammer was a libero, not a sweeper, and would have been as good as Beckenbauer if it wasn't for injuries. Beckenbauer was an all-action-mostly-attacking midfielder for most of his career for Germany (like Matthäus but much easier on the eye and better) and then moved those skills to his libero position. Baresi and Scirea were pretty much traditional sweepers. I know it's hard to compare across eras but Iniesta's achievements are so omnipresent that it is possible. Why do we compare Messi to Pele, Maradona and the like? I think that in the same way, Iniesta can be compared, but right now he is somewhere between those guys and guys like Matthäus and Rummenigge.
Both Reus & Götze need to step up in big games for BvB & for the Nat team before I anoint them as Fussball Gods. Until then, they are just really good players with a lot of potential.