George Best - Best Player Ever?

H10

Huseyin 10
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Often when people are talking about the best player ever to have played football, Pele and Maradona's name crops up the most. As I never got to see them play live, I only have seen some footage from when they were at their peak.

However, was George Best the greatest ever?

Here are some quotes I stumbled accross:

Maradona - 'George Best. He's my idol.'

Eusebio - "George Best was the best player in the world, not just England, and a good friend of mine".

Best - "Pele called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life."

So, for even the players that he's compared to are saying that he was the greatest player ever, is there any point debating?
 
Its debatable. To be fair all the legendary players seem to have a lot of repect for each other. Except for Maradona and Pele... them cnuts hate each other.
 
Pele for me followed by Di Stefano and Best but I never saw Maradonna. Edwards might have surpassed them all.
 
Wittmann45 said:
Is there a reason why? Did you stop watching football in the 80s?
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Of course not. I saw every game Pele played in the 70 World Cup. I saw Di Stefano two or three times at OT and I saw Best play many games. Of course I saw Maradonna play on TV but the others I saw live and I restricted my opinion to those players, mainly because you can see the amount of work players are getting through when out of camera shot. Probably if I had seen Maradonna live I would have included him.
 
Sonny Feehan said:
Of course not. I saw every game Pele played in the 70 World Cup. I saw Di Stefano two or three times at OT and I saw Best play many games. Of course I saw Maradonna play on TV but the others I saw live and I restricted my opinion to those players, mainly because you can see the amount of work players are getting through when out of camera shot. Probably if I had seen Maradonna live I would have included him.
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I see what you mean...

When you said you never saw Maradona, I thought that you meant it in general, that you have never seen him play under any circumstances...

BTW, you saw Di Stefano live, probably with Madrid right? That must have been something
 
Maradona Pele Cruyf Best Eusabio Ronaldo (fat one) not in any order were all on another planet from any other player!
 
Maradona best ever followed by di Stefano, Best, Garrincha and Puskas.
 
Tough to call.

For me - Pele. 3 world cup wins is very special.

But Maradona is not far off - he almost single handedly (no pun intended) won the world cup for Argentina in 86. What he has over Pele is the fact that he played in Europe. He did well at Barca and he was a phenomenon at Napoli
 
Since Ronaldo is better than Best already sccording to some, he must be better than maradona and pele too.
 
I've got to trust Bobby charlton on this one, given that he would have played with and against most of these guys. what more can you say - he must have been a phenomenon!!

"Duncan Edwards has always been in my mind as the best player I ever played with or against."

"I totally believe he was the best player I ever saw or am likely to see," said Charlton, who survived the Munich crash, having played alongside Edwards. "He was the only person I felt intimidated by. I was never going to be as good as him."
 
You cannot comapare Best with Edwards - it's quite impossible as they were totally different. Anyway coming back to Best, it helps if you have a highly successful international career eg Pele, Maradona, Charlton. That depends on which country you happen to represent of course. Unfortunately for George, Northern Ireland never did anything during his career. It therefore says a tremendous amount about his ability that he is still rated one of the greatest of all time not just in UK but all over the world, despite NI's lack of success.
 
just thinking about these great players....and when some say that we have our Ronaldo being in Best's level....bloody hell....we a have a lot to look forward to....

and I want to mention Rooney.....he has been bearing so much of the burden with Ronado...I think he will prove to be an immense player for us....and has the potential to be up there with these players we are talking about....
 
Defenders don't get enough attention when speaking of the all time greats. I consider Beckenbauer right up there with the best.
 
-------Pele---Maradonna-------
Garrincha------------------Best
--------------Platini-----------
Maldini---Beckenbauer---Edwards
--------Moore--Baresi----------
------------Yashin-------------

^Best ever, in every position, while I'm at it. Honourable mentions to myself, Ryan Giggs, Zinedine Zindane, Franko Puskas, Ronaldo, and Johann Cryuff.
 
ronnie dazzler said:
I've got to trust Bobby charlton on this one, given that he would have played with and against most of these guys. what more can you say - he must have been a phenomenon!!

"Duncan Edwards has always been in my mind as the best player I ever played with or against."

"I totally believe he was the best player I ever saw or am likely to see," said Charlton, who survived the Munich crash, having played alongside Edwards. "He was the only person I felt intimidated by. I was never going to be as good as him."
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Agree on that one. Can't discuss with good old Bobby.
 
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