Saint Domingo
Player Valuation: £90m
The sad passing of Johan Cruyff got me thinking: who is the greatest player you have ever seen and why?
It doesn't have to be that you saw them live, but you must have seen them on tv 'live' at least (basically their playing career was during your lifetime). You also don't have to 'prove' that they are the greatest. It can be for entirely sentimental or personal reasons that you consider a certain player to be greater than another even if cold hard stats may prove otherwise. Mods please feel free to merge with another thread if best to do so.
The greatest player I've ever seen? For me it's Zidane. The reason being that he was playing at a time of some truly great footballers. Ronaldo, Figo, Makelele Davids Petit Bergkamp Totti Nedved etc. Yet despite this in big games he often seemed like a god on a different level to all of them even those in his own teams of the Galacticos and his great France side. Even in 2006 when he was near his end he still weaved magical powers over that World Cup. I've never seen anyone influence the outcome of big games and big moments as much as he did. His control was brilliant and he didn't even have the pace so many top players rely on.
Many might say Messi and whilst his numbers are astounding and he's probably the most consistent player of all time, for me he's not been able to impact those big moments on the international level that leave those sentimental images for all time. I've also always seen Messi as the jewell in the Barca crown as in a brilliant player at the forefront of a team of great players such as Iniesta Xavi etc. Zidane also played with great players for France Vieira Petit Henry Makelele Desailly Pires, yet he just seemed to be on a different stratosphere to them. When the big moments were needed some of the best players of all time always looked to Zidane.
It doesn't have to be that you saw them live, but you must have seen them on tv 'live' at least (basically their playing career was during your lifetime). You also don't have to 'prove' that they are the greatest. It can be for entirely sentimental or personal reasons that you consider a certain player to be greater than another even if cold hard stats may prove otherwise. Mods please feel free to merge with another thread if best to do so.
The greatest player I've ever seen? For me it's Zidane. The reason being that he was playing at a time of some truly great footballers. Ronaldo, Figo, Makelele Davids Petit Bergkamp Totti Nedved etc. Yet despite this in big games he often seemed like a god on a different level to all of them even those in his own teams of the Galacticos and his great France side. Even in 2006 when he was near his end he still weaved magical powers over that World Cup. I've never seen anyone influence the outcome of big games and big moments as much as he did. His control was brilliant and he didn't even have the pace so many top players rely on.
Many might say Messi and whilst his numbers are astounding and he's probably the most consistent player of all time, for me he's not been able to impact those big moments on the international level that leave those sentimental images for all time. I've also always seen Messi as the jewell in the Barca crown as in a brilliant player at the forefront of a team of great players such as Iniesta Xavi etc. Zidane also played with great players for France Vieira Petit Henry Makelele Desailly Pires, yet he just seemed to be on a different stratosphere to them. When the big moments were needed some of the best players of all time always looked to Zidane.
Big nev. but not in his prime
