How long will we have to wait to see another Messi?

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How often does a talent like him come along in football?

Is it just inevitable within the next 5-10 years?
 

amolbhatia50k

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Anybody's guess.

Given Maradona to Messi was what.. 25 years? (Peak to peak) Then maybe another 15 keeping in mind scouting, sports science etc is better now.

I can see players being more successful or getting more glory but really hard to imagine anyone as good.
 

B20

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Pele and Maradona are 20 years apart. Maradona and Messi are 27 years apart.

So 20-30 years seems to be the cycle so far.
 

Pexbo

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Pele and Maradona are 20 years apart. Maradona and Messi are 27 years apart.

So 20-30 years seems to be the cycle so far.
Pele to Maradona was 20 years, Maradona and Ronaldo were 25 years apart. Ronaldo and Messi were 2 years apart.
 

Zlatan 7

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More and more these days the focus in football is in tactics and regimented games and less about expressing yourself, this goes down to academy level too so I’d be very surprised to see anyone on the same level as messi again.

Players will just be fitter faster stronger and more regimented versions than the players before them
 

RG77

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Messi really was some lightning in a bottle stuff. Besides playing for the best team until now, he had everything going for him. And not like: owh yeah he is good at [x], he is the best I’ve seen at so many different things.

Dribbling, passing, vision, scoring. You name it. I’m sure someone will come along who somehow is even better at all those things, look very much forward to that day.
 

Polar

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Pele and Maradona are 20 years apart. Maradona and Messi are 27 years apart.

So 20-30 years seems to be the cycle so far.
Agree if we talk about type of players like Messi, Pele and Maradona.

Talking about quality in a more broad sense, I don’t think example Mbappe is far behind the above mentioned players, but he is a different kind of player.
 

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How often does a talent like him come along in football?

Is it just inevitable within the next 5-10 years?
Work out the difference in time between: Pele; Maradona; L. Ronaldo and Messi himself for about as realistic an answer as this question can have.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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I don’t think it will be that long before someone hits similar numbers.
Depends what numbers, 91 goals in a year, 73 goals in a club season, 50 league goals in a season at his peak, I don’t see these being easily surpassed.

This while also being the best dribbler and one of the best passers in the world, not a poacher.
 

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Work out the difference in time between: Pele; Maradona; L. Ronaldo and Messi himself for about as realistic an answer as this question can have.
Ronaldo is the perfect example of how luck pays into it. He didn’t have the luck of the others so is skipped on the list. Injuries like his could very easily happen to the next 3 players on such a conveyer belt of talent.

The players that are that good will be out there, they may be born in places with poor football infrastructure, have injuries, etc… etc… it’s a big pot of chance.
 

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Even if we accept he’s a once in 1000 years player another could come along in 10 years time

impossible to predict, basically.. but chances are it will be a very long time
 

meamth

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It'll be hard. Nowadays talent alone won't win you games, it's the tactics.

Good players can nullify great players with the right tactics, we won't be seeing another Messi for a long time.
 

Fortitude

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Ronaldo is the perfect example of how luck pays into it. He didn’t have the luck of the others so is skipped on the list. Injuries like his could very easily happen to the next 3 players on such a conveyer belt of talent.

The players that are that good will be out there, they may be born in places with poor football infrastructure, have injuries, etc… etc… it’s a big pot of chance.
That talent (on all 4 of them) had them earmarked as potential all-time greats by the time Ronaldo’s knees blew out. Ronaldo himself was already being literally placed in best of all-time class by the time he was 21.

I don’t think many come out the traps anywhere near that class from those absurdly young ages, and ironically enough, Messi’s prominence came in staccato manner as he was hailed as Maradona’s successor (like a gazillion prodigious Argentine youth) after the youth World Cup, then had his breakout seasons - that were good but nothing close to any of the other 3 on the respective age timelines - before exploding as a productivity monster, at which point he was locked into that ‘of all-time’ bracket.

So I think, even from the outset, someone has to have the talent that immediately catapults them into that stratosphere, and that’s a level of talent I’ve only seen in two players in the past 26 years. The what could have been of that talent, as long as it got to showcase itself on world settings, simply prevents said player from challenging the other 3 (Pele, Maradona and Messi) at the very top of the totem, but will still have the, acknowledged as something out of this world once all is said and done.
 

B20

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Pele to Maradona was 20 years, Maradona and Ronaldo were 25 years apart. Ronaldo and Messi were 2 years apart.
That's delightfully petty Pexbo. I of course meant to spurn CR7 here, since he does not sit at the same table as those 3.
 

mu4c_20le

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As the modern game evolves it shouldn't be too long before we see another like him, but physically superior.
 

Red the Bear

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We won't see another Messi the same way we haven't seen another Maradona or another pele.

Some other player with a claim to greatness will eventually emerge the same way we had messi and Ronaldo after the og Ronaldo but I doubt he's going to particularly similar to Messi, he'll be great in his own way.
 

Pexbo

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That's delightfully petty Pexbo. I of course meant to spurn CR7 here, since he does not sit at the same table as those 3.
Of course he does. If there was no Messi, the conversation would be about Pele, Maradona and then Ronaldo.

He’s scored over 800 goals in his career. If his career was 20 years long he would have averaged 40 goals every single season for 20 years. If a player hits 40 goals in ONE season they are called world class. He’s averaged that for TWENTY years. It’s preposterous


If Pele is part of the calculation, Ronaldo is in the conversation.

The topic is when the next player at that level is going to appear and I’m saying that two appeared in the same generation so it’s not a binary discussion between Messi vs Ronaldo and we dismiss the loser and say it’s 25 years since the last.
 

altodevil

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I do think we are entering a sort of 2002-2006ish era of a plethora of fantastic iconic players, but no true 'great' on the horizon.
 

Piratesoup

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There will probably be a better player at some point. Could be in 3 years. Could be in 100.
 

OpenIntrovert

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If you are talking about talent, it is actually quite fast (every 5 years or so you get to see such talent). The key things are timing and luck. Messi benefited from coming into a Barcelona team which had exceptional talent all over the pitch, guided by a managers who knew the system. He was very lucky with injuries as well. However, if he had played for a different club at the start, I doubt that he would have been as successful.
 

Bebestation

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The PSG level Messi shouldn’t be hard to find to soon.
 

TheLord

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Pele - Maradona - Messi
The cycle seems to repeat every 20-30 years.
 

mu4c_20le

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If you are talking about talent, it is actually quite fast (every 5 years or so you get to see such talent). The key things are timing and luck. Messi benefited from coming into a Barcelona team which had exceptional talent all over the pitch, guided by a managers who knew the system. He was very lucky with injuries as well. However, if he had played for a different club at the start, I doubt that he would have been as successful.
This. is exactly why I still rate Maradona over him.
 

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Pele and Maradona are 20 years apart. Maradona and Messi are 27 years apart.

So 20-30 years seems to be the cycle so far.
Pele to Maradona was 20 years, Maradona and Ronaldo were 25 years apart. Ronaldo and Messi were 2 years apart.
Work out the difference in time between: Pele; Maradona; L. Ronaldo and Messi himself for about as realistic an answer as this question can have.

Are we all forgetting George Best?

By the logic of the years between them, and including Best, we should already have the next one in his very early 20s but in reality things don't really work that way and as a few have pointed out we kind of got two at once there but Messi was genetically engineered.
 

Trequarista10

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Garnacho is what, 17?

So probably 4 years until he reaches Messi's level, 5 or 6 until he surpasses him. Lol
 

hatchetmac

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Forget Messi when will we see another player like George Best? With his amazing technical skills which came natural to him.To think it's over 60 years ago since his talent was spotted and i don't think any home isles talent has come near him and that includes Giggs. Besty was a one off and we never got to see his full potential as a player so i would put him up there with a Messi, Maradona, Pele and Ronaldo.
 

CarbonStoolBites

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There will probably be a better player at some point. Could be in 3 years. Could be in 100.
A better player than Messi? How is that even humanly possible?
I can get behind as good as Messi, but its unfathomable how can there be anyone who’s better than someone who is world class in so many different aspects of the game, on top of being a ruthless and machine like goal scorer for that long.

Maybe when humans will literally be half man/half machine.
 

Bebestation

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If you are talking about talent, it is actually quite fast (every 5 years or so you get to see such talent). The key things are timing and luck. Messi benefited from coming into a Barcelona team which had exceptional talent all over the pitch, guided by a managers who knew the system. He was very lucky with injuries as well. However, if he had played for a different club at the start, I doubt that he would have been as successful.
If I could get this tattoo’ d on my chest I would.

Beautifully said.
 

Piratesoup

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A better player than Messi? How is that even humanly possible?
I can get behind as good as Messi, but its unfathomable how can there be anyone who’s better than someone who is world class in so many different aspects of the game, on top of being a ruthless and machine like goal scorer for that long.

Maybe when humans will literally be half man/half machine.
People have been asking the same thing when Pele was still active. Same goes for all the (former) greatest in every other sport. It's only natural that the level keeps rising and rising. A level of football that was impossible to envision in the 60s is now the norm. Once a limit is broken, others will follow through the broken ceiling. Until a new limit breaker appears.
 

mu4c_20le

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A better player than Messi? How is that even humanly possible?
I can get behind as good as Messi, but its unfathomable how can there be anyone who’s better than someone who is world class in so many different aspects of the game, on top of being a ruthless and machine like goal scorer for that long.

Maybe when humans will literally be half man/half machine.
:lol:

 

Righteous Steps

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Of course he does. If there was no Messi, the conversation would be about Pele, Maradona and then Ronaldo.

He’s scored over 800 goals in his career. If his career was 20 years long he would have averaged 40 goals every single season for 20 years. If a player hits 40 goals in ONE season they are called world class. He’s averaged that for TWENTY years. It’s preposterous


If Pele is part of the calculation, Ronaldo is in the conversation.

The topic is when the next player at that level is going to appear and I’m saying that two appeared in the same generation so it’s not a binary discussion between Messi vs Ronaldo and we dismiss the loser and say it’s 25 years since the last.
Pele was a number 10, Messi is far more comparable to him than CR7 is, because the fact Pele had the same physical gifts that Cristiano has people often misconstrue the type of player was and the fact he was actually a number 10 who would Influence both finishing and playmaking spheres of the game.

Cristiano never showed the same duality both Messi and Pele did, which is why he is just a bit below for me and of course also has less natural genius to go with it.