“In the 1970s, I was a teenager in a country (Germany) that loved football – and in that country, there was no argument about who was the best player of all time. There was no contestation, no hierarchy, although there were many good players at the time. Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff were out of the ordinary. But even they never thought they could be the No. 1 player in the world. It was a time when the Ballon d’Or was reserved for players in Europe, so there was a very clear hierarchy: there were the very good ones, and there was the superstar. This is something we no longer have when discussing who is the best among several great players. None have the impact that Pelé had at the time.”
I agree. Without a doubt Messi is the best football player, but he has not ‘invented’ anything, he’s just been so much better than everybody else (except Ronaldo, when comparing specifically goal scoring ability).
Obviously there’s many ways to measure influence, but Franz Beckenbauer is worth a shout:
I’d still give the nod to Cruyff, though.
“In the 1970s, I was a teenager in a country (Germany) that loved football – and in that country, there was no argument about who was the best player of all time. There was no contestation, no hierarchy, although there were many good players at the time. Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff were out of the ordinary. But even they never thought they could be the No. 1 player in the world. It was a time when the Ballon d’Or was reserved for players in Europe, so there was a very clear hierarchy: there were the very good ones, and there was the superstar. This is something we no longer have when discussing who is the best among several great players. None have the impact that Pelé had at the time.”
Source
I agree. Without a doubt Messi is the best football player, but he has not ‘invented’ anything, he’s just been so much better than everybody else (except Ronaldo, when comparing specifically goal scoring ability).
Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Di Stefano