In my opinion, which is influenced by the draft forum perspective of judging players on 3 year peaks, there is a 5 way tie for 1st between Alfredo Di Stefano, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Pele and R9 Ronaldo so given the poll made me choose one I can see 2 possible metrics that elevate one of those five above the others with those being more positional versatility for Di Stefano and proven ability with less good teammates for Maradona but I ended up voting for Di Stefano anyway because he showed some indication of being able to do well with less good teammates during his time in Colombia with Millonarios (although he did have 2 top class teammates in Nestor Rossi and Adolfo Pedernera).
Once we get into more detail with Di Stefano, he is just a force of nature:
1. He started young, yet not extremely young. The reason? it's that in his days he was at perhaps the best team club by a margin. That River had a constellation of stars that in many ways started the whole possesion till die style, fellas like Pedernera,
Moreno (the GOAT for all these fellas of this period), Labruna, Lousteau, etc that till his last day Alfredo idolized. So they lend the kid to Huracan, were he was great, they wanted to buy him, but River said,nope, bring him back.
2. He started to play with that huge squad and he was quite a trail blazer in terms of Athletism, given his age, perhaps the real Saeta/Arrow that Europe never enjoyed in his peak form, he had a track athlete speed. There the oldies told him to calm down, to not go every ball invididually trying to score evry single time and to play more as a team player (the seed for the total footballer was already planted).
3. He played just one Tournament with the NT in 47 at 21 years scoring 6 goals and winning the Sudamericano title. In 1948 the main Argentinian players started a Strike that ended being banned from FIFA, the Exodus started ending with Adolfo Pedernera, Alfredo Di Stéfano, René Pontoni, Néstor "Pipo" Rossi and Rial being the Ctalyst of the Colombian league separating from FIFA and creating a new one where these fellas could play. It was like Zidane, R9, Batistuta, Redondo and Iniesta from those days had to played all of a sudden in a new League out of FIFA. They were all banned of course from WCs. In those years, Millonarios (called the Blue Ballet) played friendlies around the globe trashing mostly every team in their path, till one day the team trashed was a certain Real Madrid.
4. Once Bernabeu watched that Alfredo fella, he wanted him, same with Barca and the Saga started, the thing it's that it went way beyond football and ended with Di Stefano at real at his 27 years old. So the only Di Stefano that the World knows, the only achievments the majority of the world think about him, started at an age were many players start to leave their prime, more in those days and some of those more improtant Cups, matches, etc, he was already in his mid 30's. In some way, like Fangio (that started at 38 years old)
his path started with already most of his youth peak years behind. Still like Juan Manuel, blowing every fecking wall in front of him.
Timing, politics and injuries didn't allow Alfredo to play a single WC, still scored galore for Spain the times he played and even in the Fisrt Euro in 1960, Spain was disqualified form it in the final stage. It was just not meant to be, in fact in his youth Argentina could have create quite a team if AFA or at times FIFA itself didn't banned many of the Top players of that period. PD:
as a side note, in his days? you couldn't even won another Ballon D Or (once he got spanish citizenship) because you just couldn't repeat (like it happened in 58). At least he got the Super Ballon or whatever stuff.
So, the dude created a Legendary carreer, almost a Club in a sense, that ended being THE CLUB.
All in his late mature years, playing his best years in a make up league, that as great as it was, it's not playing your trait in an already more traditional one (that BTW created the foundation of that passing creative style Colombia tend at times to have, specialy in the 80 and 90s).
Everytime facing huge off the field issues and pressure that the majority of players would have crumbled, while having to start all over again in another corner of the globe with not even the slightest info of what's going on there.
He was also the inspiration as a player for fellas like Eusebio, Cryuff, Charlton and even coaches like Rinus. He was cunning, a tad cocky, yet a mate (even for his rivals), he was blunt, yet at times funny, he was an extreme athlete, yet smoke like a chimney and I can't recall a moment where he self proclaimed the best.
At times, I think everyone does not compute how much of a freak of nature this fella was.
PD: Sorry for the rant, but he deserves it and find it more useful than demeriting genius like this threas tend to end
