Like those who draw the comparisons between Maradona and Messi, they are there to be drawn between Pele and Neymar; they both come from that star-producing academy of Santos, which has also spawned Elano, Robinho and Diego recently, they have both hit six goals in one game and both have put club and country before their own goals. “My goal is not to be the best in the world; it is to play in the best competitions. Santos are doing just that.”
How long Neymar sticks to this ideology is yet to be seen, but even The King flew the nest. “He is very skilled, the best on his team,” comments Pele on the young winger, who has bagged himself 79 goals in 155 games for Santos. One thing the eccentric Brazilian has over the diminutive Argentinian already is unquestionable international form. Messi is only human and one of very few critiques of his game is that he maybe hasn’t delivered on the international stage.
He is only human though and his international exploits still make for good reading; 18 goals and 20 assists in 68 appearances means that Messi is involved with 0.6 goals a game whilst on international duty. Neymar’s is slightly more impressive, even if he has played only a fraction of Messi’s international caps. Compare Messi’s record internationally at 19 to Neymar’s and the evaluation becomes much more valid; Neymar has hit 8 goals in 15 appearances and contributed with an assist too, Messi had hit 2 goals in 10 games with 2 assists to boot.
The world’s greatest ever player still remains as Pele according to most. It has become a foregone conclusion of football. However it isn’t without its own controversy and debate; “Pele had nearly everything. Maradona has everything. He works harder, does more and is more skilful.” Sir Alf Ramsey spoke of Maradona in such praise during the 1986 World Cup.
When it comes to Pele’s defence and credentials, Luiz Felipe Scolari pitched it perfectly, “Even if you tried to create the ideal footballer on a computer, there could never be another like Pele.” It seems that we are to be blessed with the next Pele and Maradona and consequentially, the next debate over who is the World’s best player.
Pele will most likely lose his throne eventually and his recent comments over the current footballing gods indicates who he’d rather lose it to, “If there is one player in the world today I would love to play with it is Neymar. I would love to play with Lionel Messi. But Messi is an incomplete player because he can’t use his head.”
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles like this visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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Ouch, Pele sounds like a bitter old man. I was lucky enough to have seen Pele play and he was the best in the world and has been for a very long time….however it is time to step aside and that crown must now go to the enigma that is Messi. “Can not use head” Pele claims…i’m sorry but using your head is more than being able too header a ball its about the footballing brain contained within that head and Messi at the tender age of 24 has a footballing brain far exceeding his years. Messi in my opinion is the better player and i’m not running Pele down. If Messi was Brazilian i doubt Pele would have made those comments but i doubt he wants to admit Argentina have the worlds best player the world of football has seen so far!