Pele says only Messi Ronaldo Neymar are great players today
Brazilian football legend Pele has reflected on the lack of great players in football today. He said only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar match the legends of his day.
Pele says only Messi Ronaldo Neymar are great players today
Pele played among a generation of legendary players. It was of no surprise that he blamed the commercialization of young talent. According to him it is the reason so many good players fail to make it finally to ‘great’ status.
“Today you have just three great players in the world, [Lionel] Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, and maybe Neymar. Maybe,” he told the London Daily Telegraph. “But in [my] time there were so many.”
The Brazilian superstar said English football used to have some of the greatest footballers. But he claimed that there were far more amazing players across world football.
Pele said agents take the players overseas or to large clubs way too early. It happens before they can fully develop their footballing skill with the team they began with. He believes they should stay with their home clubs for a few more years. And then they should brace the journey to the big European leagues.
“I think one of the problems is that the players used to remain longer in the team they started with, in the country they were born,” he said. “Before, the players belong to their club, they had the chance to grow there. Now the players belong to the impresarios, the agents, their personal managers.”
The issue is particularly present in Brazil. Here earmarked star players like Robinho, Adriano, Denilson Pereira Neves and Alexandre Pato never accomplished their superstar potential.
“We have this problem in Brazil, the best players start to play, then immediately comes the impresario, they pay a little too much, and hoping to make money straight away, they push them too early,” he said. “They don’t have time to develop.”
