Top 10 Most Talented Players ever?

[Fortitude]

It seems like this thread "talented" is a code for great technically, I agree generally that the geniuses can do what others can't do... but there is more to football talent than pure technique.

Would someone like Haaland not be a natural talent for football, with his father a footballer and blessed with a crazy genes that have given him pace and power to go with a sharp footballing mind the likes of which we've rarely ever seen before? Doing it from about age 15 or 16 as well.

I also don't think Haaland would have to train that much to be up there among the best strikers, a lot less than some high technique players who might have toiled at improving their technique so that they keep up, because he has that natural asset.

Watch any compilation of Van Basten to see what a chasm in talent between two goalscorers looks like relative to Haaland. Van Basten is often referred to as the most complete striker ever because he could do everything and didn't have a single weakness to his game. That is what striking talent that is out of this world looks like. Normally, Ronaldo and Romario as well as Muller are thrown into the mix when it comes to strikers, but for the consummate, do literally anything striker, Van Basten is the platinum standard when it comes to completeness over goalscoring in and of itself.

Similarly in defence, Maldini with the family business of defending had a natural knack for intercepting and timing clean tackles. Maldini couldn't do elasticos or freestyle moves, there are plenty of those circus football performers all around the world, but he had a natural talent for defending and a very high football IQ.

Then there are players like Muller and Lahm to be talented too in that they seem to have had a very high football IQ from an early age, something you can't easily train.

A thread for defensive technique should be made. You'd find Maldini topping most criteria. On the ball and turning it into an offensive property, immediately switches to the 'cultured' ones, such as Beckenbauer, Koeman, Baresi, Scirea and so on.

 

[simplyared]

1. Maradona
2. Best
In no specific order:
Ronaldinho
Cantona
Platini
Beckenbauer
Sokrates
Foden
Salah
Cruyff

 

[black country red]

Man united had a player many people reckon was extremely talented a fella named Bobby Charlton funny how no one on a man united site has mentioned a player who won league European cup and World Cup medals and was European footballer of the year

 

[lysglimt]

Never saw him play - but most who did agree that Duncan Edwards was the most talented United-player ever

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

1. Maradona
2. Best
In no specific order:
Ronaldinho
Cantona
Platini
Beckenbauer
Sokrates
Foden
Salah
Cruyff

Foden and Salah before Messi???

 

[tenpoless]

1. Maradona
2. Best
In no specific order:
Ronaldinho
Cantona
Platini
Beckenbauer
Sokrates
Foden
Salah
Cruyff

One of these is unlike the other.

 

[simplyared]

Foden and Salah before Messi???

Messi and Ronaldo (for that matter) usually dominate these types of threads. We've seen enough of them! Knew there would be opinions about Foden for example. In terms of raw talent he's the best I've seen for a long time and he's still improving. Maybe Mbappe should be on that list as well.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Watch any compilation of Van Basten to see what a chasm in talent between two goalscorers looks like relative to Haaland. Van Basten is often referred to as the most complete striker ever because he could do everything and didn't have a single weakness to his game. That is what striking talent that is out of this world looks like. Normally, Ronaldo and Romario as well as Muller are thrown into the mix when it comes to strikers, but for the consummate, do literally anything striker, Van Basten is the platinum standard when it comes to completeness over goalscoring in and of itself.

A thread for defensive technique should be made. You'd find Maldini topping most criteria. On the ball and turning it into an offensive property, immediately switches to the 'cultured' ones, such as Beckenbauer, Koeman, Baresi, Scirea and so on.

But just because you’re a more complete player doesn’t mean more naturally talented necessarily. That could hypothetically be due to Van Basten working on aspects of his game that Haaland doesn’t for example. It might make Van Basten a better player than Haaland, but not necessarily more talented, unless you completely disregard physical gifts as talent.

 

[harms]

But just because you’re a more complete player doesn’t mean more naturally talented necessarily. That could hypothetically be due to Van Basten working on aspects of his game that Haaland doesn’t for example. It might make Van Basten a better player than Haaland, but not necessarily more talented, unless you completely disregard physical gifts as talent.

That’s the thing with van Basten — he wasn’t any less physical than Haaland. And it’s not like van Basten, like, say, Cristiano suddenly developed some traits that he didn’t have at a younger age — he just polished them. Van Basten was more talented than Haaland irrespective of what your definition of talent is.

 

[AndySmith1990]

I'll just say Messi #1

 

[Fortitude]

But just because you’re a more complete player doesn’t mean more naturally talented necessarily. That could hypothetically be due to Van Basten working on aspects of his game that Haaland doesn’t for example. It might make Van Basten a better player than Haaland, but not necessarily more talented, unless you completely disregard physical gifts as talent.

As @harms said, there's no metric on talent or its definition where Van Basten doesn't have oodles more of it. We're talking about a cold-blooded finisher with the touch-technique of a Bergkamp, Berbetov or whoever else you would refer to as having sublime technique.

And again, for a true idea of Van Basten's physical gifts in an open field, watch anything of him at Ajax, where he is a very, very fast, mobile striker with probably the vastest array of finishes there has been. Even if not him, he is in that bracket with Pele where there isn't a side or angle that he cannot manipulate and convert from nothing into something.

If you don't want to consider it in terms of completeness, it can be phrased another way: Van Basten is better at being the prototype striker Haaland is than Haaland is. There's not a touch, finish, movement or action Van Basten's talent doesn't supersede Haaland's by, by a massive amount outside of top pace and being tall(er).

 

[Ddannidom]

To make a such a list will contain more of attacking players or attacking minded players at the expense of the less attacking minded players but very very good in their roles.

I feel the different sections of the field need certain types of talents to really excel.

Players like Buffon, Neuer, Schmeichel, Maldini, at a point Casillas, Nesta, Carlos, Cafu, Lahm, Scholes, Xavi, Iniesta, Modric, Even Yaya Youre and Debruyne all deserve to be mentioned in the conversation of most talented players.

I think 'Top Ten Most Talented Players By Position' should see a more inclusive list of players.

For me it is 'Messi' as the best and most talented player in the world and Ronaldinho as the most flair player I have ever seen in pro football.

My list goes thus

Most talented Keepers
Oliver Kahn
Neuer
Schmeichel
Buffon
Casillas
De gea (I know I know his legs)
Ter Stegen
...
...
...

Most talented CB
Baresi
Beckanbeaur
Cannavaro
Nesta
Ferdinand
Van dijk
Boateng
...
...
...

Most talented Fb
Maldini
Carlos
Lahm
Cafu
Alaba
Dani Alves ( I Kno I know)
...
...
...

Most talented DM
Makelele
Robson
Pirlo
Busquets
Kante
Roy Keane
Edgar David's
...
...
...

Most talented CMs
Xavi
Iniesta
Scholes
Modric
Kroos
Fabregas
Schweinsteiger
Yaya Toure (that one year at City)
maybe Pogba
Beckham

Most talented AMs
Maradona
Ronaldinho
Messi
Zico
Zidane
Kaka
De bruyne
Hazard
Deco
...
...
...

Most talented Left Wingers
C.Ronaldo
Best
Nedved
Rivaldo
Ribery
Henry
...
...
...

Most talented RW
Messi
Messi
Beckham
Robben
...
...
...

Most talented SS
Messi
Johan Cruyff
Di Stefano
Platini
Batistuta
Totti
Del Piero
...
...
...

Most talented CF
Ronaldo
van Basten
Bobby Charton
Romario
C.Ronaldo
Henry
David Villa
Luis Suarez
Owen
Lewandoski

Notable mention
Zlatan
Rooney
Gerard
Lampard
Da Silva
Simeon
Vidic
Varane
Casemiro
Xabi Alonso
Ramos
Pique
Jordi Alba
Dennis Bergkamp

etc

 

[Red_Chick]

1. Messi
2. Pele
3. Maradona
4. Ronaldo N.
5. Beckenbauer
6. Cruyff
7. Best
8. Bobby Charlton
9. Ronaldinho
10. Gascoigne