Who is the biggest “what if” player of all time? What I mean by this is a player who could’ve had a dramatically different or better career if he had chose a different option.
One of my picks is Neymar. What if he stayed at Barcelona?
Who is the biggest “what if” player of all time? What I mean by this is a player who could’ve had a dramatically different or better career if he had chose a different option.
One of my picks is Neymar. What if he stayed at Barcelona?
Ronaldo without injuries
Adriano without mental breakdown
Pato without injuries
Balotelli if he had a functioning brain
Imagine Balotelli if he wasn’t a professional footballer and didn’t had a tonne of money
I will argue that Diego Maradona, with the right people around him would have been a different story.
Neymar, El Shaarawy & Kaká without injuries too. Ronaldinho and Deco without drinking and partying. OR… Maradona without drugs.
R9 is a good shout, injuries and self inflicted. Injuries and discipline. Owen Hargreaves, he was talked about for England like a Bellingham/Rice combo back in the day. Dele Alli is another one.
Ronaldo still had a historic career, he was the unquestioned best player in the world until the big knee injury and still came back as one of the top strikers for several years until his retirement. Thing is, he also loved the nightlife and didn’t take proper care of himself. But without major injuries and with a tad stronger commitment he would be the unquestioned GOAT and it’s a testament to his skills that he is in that conversation regardless.
Adriano might have taken that title if not for his dad’s heart attack. He also had a biiiit of a soft spot for partying but he completely unraveled when his father died. That’s to say he might have regressed in his mid-20s anyway, but his natural talent was insane. Strength, agility and skills with the most insane raw shot power I’ve ever seen. He never felt quite as magical as prime Ronaldo but in terms of effectiveness and lethality he was Ronaldo 2.0 for a minute.
Pato is sad because indications are he might have been able to live up to his potential in terms of approach and mentality but he was really done in by his injuries.
Balotelli is a unique talent but he definitely never was on the level of the first two, not even Pato probably. At best I think he might have become an Immobile type in terms of success. Nothing to scoff at, but not an all-time great.
Jose telling the Mario story makes me laugh my ass off every fucking time. Man is a 17/10 lunatic.
He just crashed his car and refused alchool test. Man is menace and not really self aware but super funny
Won’t be surprised if he gets diagnosed with CTE later on.
Absolutely agree, here’s some others to add to the list: George best if he wasn’t an absolute idiot Gascoigne (see above) Matt Le Tissier if he had some drive/work ethic Marco Van Basten without the injuries and retiring in his 20s
Matt Le Tissier if he had drive/work ethic? The first midfielder to score 100 goals in the Prem and the most accurate penalty taker ever?
Yes, if you watched Southampton at the time they were pretty much set up so he could walk around the pitch and score bangers
Yep, that Matt Le Tissier. He was unbelievably talented and made the game look easy. But if you ever watched him play he was never a hard worker, didn’t track back and was never in fantastic shape. I really believe he had the talent to be one of Englands best ever players but he was never 1st choice. He even said he didn’t want to move to a bigger club because he didn’t want the hassle
Yeah, Le Tissier had a lot of ability but was incredibly lazy and had no motivation.
At Southampton he could get away with it because his level of skill was far above the normal for the club, had he moved elsewhere he might have been shown up for what he was.
He did pretty well so shown up for what he was I think is a bit harsh but think I know what you mean. No work ethic
Couldn’t get away with nowadays no matter how gifted you are
Yeah I wasn’t sure how to word it, didn’t mean he was shit or anything.
Le Tissier was good, but even with a work ethic I don’t think he would world class in his day.
We’ll never know, He had world class Technique, vision and could score from anywhere, I think he could have been up there with Scholes if he had have had a different attitude/mindset. Still had a great career though
Man stayed at Southampton his entire career and wasn’t much of a high work rate player. People say it’s loyalty but I think he just couldn’t be arsed with the change and more pressure and work.
As a City fan, Balotelli was obviously great but I definitely don’t think he had the ceiling many thought he did. Even when he was on form, I think at best, he was a solid striker for a top four team - which by the way is obviously great, but there was mention of him being one of the world’s best - not for me.