This discussion is becoming very detailed now and a lot of different things are being said. However, I'm not quite sure I agree with you here (if I'm reading what you said right). You're talking about skills becoming 'tangible and effective'. Skills and technique are in and of themselves tangible and effective IMO, not just for the aesthetic. If a player can dribble really well, can pass really well, even sometimes in the case of tricks - these are all things that are inherently useful as they can be used to beat, bypass and confuse defenders, which leads to space being created, which leads to chances, which leads to goals.
For me, the promising people with talent don't fall by the wayside because they have skills and don't 'turn them into something effective' (as I said above, I don't agree with that construction). It's more because they can lack the discipline that is necessary to succeed at the highest level, and with their lack of application, they find it harder and harder to do their natural thing against better and better opponents as they rise up the ranks.
So many of the people we've mentioned have that rebellious, maverick mindset where they don't want to train, where they get distracted by off the field stuff etc. Jorge 'Magico" Gonzalez, who you mentioned, didn't want to train and liked to party. Cherki was previously accused of being a poor trainer - maybe that's why he didn't develop as quickly as expected. Morrison was a poor trainer and had off the field issues.
So it's not about them changing to become more effective - if they work at their game and work at their fitness, they will naturally become effective because they can simply do things that other players cannot do.
I think part of the problem with such players is that they're already so much better than everyone else initially, so they feel like they don't have to train or work. That's why they can sometimes get left behind.
I think about someone like Maradona, who is the prime example of the flawed genius/maverick archetype. He had all the red flags - drugs, women, clashes with authority, etc. It all caught up with him at the end, and he had a shorter career than he should have had. But maybe the reason he reached the top and can't be said to have squandered his incredible gift, is because he was (in his own way) dedicated to the sport and he trained like a demon, especially early in his career and in the run up to World Cups. Consider the difference in his build between the 82 and 86 tournaments - he knew he had to get much stronger after being bullied with his slighter frame in 82.
The Maradona frame stuff it's not the catalyst nor was an issue with him ever. There is no way to avoid the treatment he had in 82, or in 86, the main thing was that he played for and with
a team that played like that and had asimilar prepration to a club one. Also in 86 it was tad less over the top the leniance to let everything go in the way the 82 Italy and Brazil game went and that old lady luck giving her blessings, or better said timing, because he could have easily end broke both Cups like in Bilbao.
In fact the best Maradona was prior to his 83 injury. Or better said, clearly the one I preffered interms of fitness and athletism.
What it's true regarding stuff around fitness it's that the 86 team, and even more Maradona in his typical fashion when he was fully dedicated, did a special preparation to deal with height in México and they did like some sort of pre season club plan. mostly imposible to do it in current Pro football in terms of schedule and also in personality of the players to trully put the NT above everything to do so. In this last aspect, the current squad has lots of points in common with those old NTs squads, similar approach and attitude. We needed that extra malice, mean and ubber commintmentt more than having zilliuons of top forwards and offensive mids above everyone trying to fit them in a single 11.
So many of the people we've mentioned have that rebellious, maverick mindset where they don't want to train, where they get distracted by off the field stuff etc. Jorge 'Magico" Gonzalez, who you mentioned, didn't want to train and liked to party. Cherki was previously accused of being a poor trainer - maybe that's why he didn't develop as quickly as expected. Morrison was a poor trainer and had off the field issues.
I think that players have diff builds, genetics and personalities that can make them approach or even take advantage when they shouldn't regarding training. It's more or less the same with personalities, sthg in a very clever way Mou always did. With some it works to tease them, with others you have be nice, with others you have to avoid them. From Sivori, to Aguero, to Tevez, Maradona and to some extent all of them were in general terms: lousy trainers, because for most of them that it was just to keep shape and to relax instead of intensity "like a game" when training. In order to properly play later in the field, given it's what they liked, feel and demanded. Their talent and delivery in real matches it's what allowed them that low socks, untied boots angle to not create huge issues with his mates.
All in all, we might guess too that Aguero would have been even better, with a lot less injures, that Diego went wayyy over the top into dammaging himself with this approach combine with his vida loca lifestyle, some fellas were right in the middle like Romario, that at least didn't indulged in extreme addictions and so on. But at the end of the day it works a tad too much of an excuse regarding certain really talented fellas that actually weren't on the ubber/ off the charts level as a package to become a genius (a term I like to use) alike players.
Someone who even Maradona said had more talent than him.
As a side note, yes Diego said that, yet you have to actually know the nuances of Diego regarding praising and relantionship with players in general to actually get him regarding this sort of quotes.
No matter if the one in the receiving end is R9, Ronaldinho, Rolfi Monetengro, some obscure 3rd division player from Argentina or el Magico.
Just in case, I get the point you were doing Fort and using el Magico.
BTW EL Magico had quite a very good to great seaons in Spain, it wasn't all of it a mere game here and there. With a tad better timing he could have even a better carreer than the one he had. In fact Barcelona letting go Diego would have been more than probably el Magico situation (in Diego's case it wasn't only his lifestyle gossip, was also that HUGE injury many people do not get how serious was it, in those days even more and that actually affected his game) if him was the only around in those days in Can Barca, he was really close to be a Barca player.
