Please nairalanders, this is not a GOAT debate. Someone should just explain this three things to me:

1. Why does it seem like there is no GOAT debate between Cristiano Ronaldo against Pele or Maradona? Even if there is, why is it not as popular as Messi versus the aforesaid legendary players?

2. Why is Barcelona planning to invoke over £600m buy out clause for Messi, 3 times larger than the current highest record in history? What are they seeing that others are not?

3. Why is ManCity and Manchester currently willing to empty their account to purchase a "33 year oldie"? What are they seeing that we are not seeing?

honeric01, semid4lyfe, lalasticlala

Cc: jokerman, obembet, fergie001

Lalasticlala, I promise you 5 bags of roasted snake if u move this to fp

1. Pele & Maradona didn't really play in the same era. When Pele retired, Maradona was still playing in the U20s. Be that as it may, every now and then the debate surfaces a bit, but again, many of us didn't really see them play
This is the era of social media and heavy buzz where we see these guys almost on a daily basis, it has to be fierce.

2. Simple, Bartomeu knows Messi hasn't been in support of his style for a while and might want to force his hand. So he is anticipating that and ready to get into a streetfight.
In clear terms, if you must leave the club, you must do it Bartomeu's way and not your way.

3. They are making a noise. Most of the news out there are rather sensational. United will not and cannot cough out that kind of money, when a few pounds had made them see Sancho slip-off their radar?
City themselves cannot with the FFP rules staring at them.
The former Laporta-guys + Pep are at City so building something Barcelona-esque won't be bad, but with the financial crisis associated with the COVID-19, only one-quarter that amount is realisable.

Again, Messi is Messi, Ronaldo is Ronaldo....Put both of them in the market again....clubs will still queue in.
They have shown in over a decade, they are the finest we have come to witness.

1. The comparison between messi and Pele/maradona started during the best four years of his career which was between 2008-2012....during that period he was outrightly the best in the word no player came close not even ronaldo....he won 2 champions league and 4 balor d hor.....the 8 years that follows ronaldo has largely dominated with 4 balor d hor,4 champions leagues and between the duo he finally won with his national team....so the pendulum has swung now to ronaldo and even Pele and maradona has retrace their former stands and pick ronaldo has the best....one dominated for 4years,the other dominated for 8years and still counting....
2. That's the way of the club saying he is not for sale.
3. The money is so outrageous....no club would pay that money for peak messi not alone an ageing one....barca put that price tag on messi to scare potential buyers away.

.nice post, soo many questions bt few answers but i think...
1..messi is the best ever and its only cr7 fans and messi haters that do say otherwise and dts Y dey do bring maradona and Pele dt they neva saw playing Football to compare messi, Pele n maradon have an edge simply bcox de won worldcups for dier country n messi only bad is lack of international trophy n dts life for you, u cnt be too perfect..
2..dt huge fee is just his buy out clause and not exactly the transfer fee dt clubs would pay if barca wants to sell, that clause simply means dt clubs must pay if the said player force his way out like in the case of neyma, if messi wants to go and barca wants to sell, that fee would reduce bt would still be above 150+..
3..number 3 is so simple, its simply bcoz messi makes a manager and a club looks soo good and he helps win matches easily even when playin badly n dts Y he is still angry with d barca squad always failing him, barca defense is a disaster n d club have no plans abt it, if messi joins city wit a solid defense, they would have a strong chance of winning the ucl..

ojaysam25:
1. The comparison between messi and Pele/maradona started during the best four years of his career which was between 2008-2012....during that period he was outrightly the best in the word no player came close not even ronaldo....he won 2 champions league and 4 balor d hor.....the 8 years that follows ronaldo has largely dominated with 4 balor d hor,4 champions leagues and between the duo he finally won with his national team....so the pendulum has strung now to ronaldo and even Pele and maradona has retrace their former stands and pick ronaldo has the best....one dominated for 4years,the other dominated for 8years and still counting....
2. That's the way of the club saying he is not for sale.
3. The money is so outrageous....no club would pay that money for peak messi not alone an ageing one....barca put that price tag on messi to scare potential buyers away.

nice opinion bt i still dnt agree with all ur stated..
1..u said the pendulum av swung to cr7 bt messi is still valued and currently rated more than cr7, apart from international glory messi still have more individual awarda and more trophies than cr7 despite cr7 playing 2 seasons ahead of messi, if football ends today messi would still be rated above cr7 bt messi badluck in international football would always put pele and maradona ahead of him for some people..
2..that's his buy out clause and soo many players had outrageous buy out clause bcoz wen a clubs signs a player n he signs 4-5 year deal the club insert such clause to make sure that d player dnt push for transfer...d point is dt if messi wants to leave n he chooses city, barca cnt stop him and would renegotiate wit city to pay his transfer fee wich is decided by his form, his value and his age as d main factor and he may be sokd between 150 to 250 euros..
3...dts d same tin i explained in dt number 2...coutinho buy out clause was above 500m when he came from Liverpool bt barca would be willing to sell for 30 euros as long as the buying club can pay his huge wage, if he accepts a paycut he would have joined arsenal jus as sanchez joined inter after accepting pay cut..

paulolee:

nice opinion bt i still dnt agree with all ur stated..
1..u said the pendulum av swung to cr7 bt messi is still valued and currently rated more than cr7, apart from international glory messi still have more individual awarda and more trophies than cr7 despite cr7 playing 2 seasons ahead of messi, if football ends today messi would still be rated above cr7 bt messi badluck in international football would always put pele and maradona ahead of him for some people..
2..that's his buy out clause and soo many players had outrageous buy out clause bcoz wen a clubs signs a player n he signs 4-5 year deal the club insert such clause to make sure that d player dnt push for transfer...d point is dt if messi wants to leave n he chooses city, barca cnt stop him and would renegotiate wit city to pay his transfer fee wich is decided by his form, his value and his age as d main factor and he may be sokd between 150 to 250 euros..
3...dts d same tin i explained in dt number 2...coutinho buy out clause was above 500m when he came from Liverpool bt barca would be willing to sell for 30 euros as long as the buying club can pay his huge wage, if he accepts a paycut he would have joined arsenal jus as sanchez joined inter after accepting pay cut..

I totally disagree with some of your point....you said currently messi is more valuable than Ronaldo, that I agree due to age factor....but that doesn't mean he is a better player...mbappe is more valuable than both of them....I think at this age the maximum barca can get from messi is 100 euros due to age plus he has just one year left in his contract,clubs will be monitoring the situation to know if they can get him for free next season...
If messi wants to leave this summer then he has to pay his buy out clause....
I think when it comes to messi and Ronaldo the margin is so small but ronaldo edge messi ...however they are heads above others...

ojaysam25:

I totally disagree with some of your point....you said currently messi is more valuable than Ronaldo, that I agree due to age factor....but that doesn't mean he is a better player...mbappe is more valuable than both of them....I think at this age the maximum barca can get from messi is 100 euros due to age plus he has just one year left in his contract,clubs will be monitoring the situation to know if they can get him for free next season...
If messi wants to leave this summer then he has to pay his buy out clause....
I think when it comes to messi and Ronaldo the margin is so small but ronaldo edge messi ...however they are heads above others...

nice but me i dnt believe dt cr7 is currently better than messi at thier current age...measi can easily work with sharp strikers and still score goals unlike cr7 dt is all abt the goals bt would look lost without a quality winger or midfield and dts d diffrence...
if messi wants to leave, barca would simple sell him and cashout and dey cant hold him on hostage with such high fee bcoz e have done soo much for barca and deserves better, he may stay this new season and latter sign an extension if koeman project suits him and he would jus walk out for free if the project turns negative..

paulolee:

nice but me i dnt believe dt cr7 is currently better than messi at thier current age...measi can easily work with sharp strikers and still score goals unlike cr7 dt is all abt the goals bt would look lost without a quality winger or midfield and dts d diffrence...
if messi wants to leave, barca would simple sell him and cashout and dey cant hold him on hostage with such high fee bcoz e have done soo much for barca and deserves better, he may stay this new season and latter sign an extension if koeman project suits him and he would jus walk out for free if the project turns negative..

I totally agree with the second paragraph but in the 1st you said that ronaldo can not work without a quality winger or midfield that's wrong,the midfielders in juve this past season were below par yet that doesn't stop him from delivery....tho with a more quality midfielder he would have done better but still he did more than enough with that juve team....the problem with barca like you guys said is that the players are not good enough.....there is no player that doesn't need quality players to excel...
What you guys don't understand is that they are various role on the pitch,messi and ronaldo do not play the same position in a team...messi is a playmaker while ronaldo was once a winger but due to him being the greatest poacher of his generation he has been redeployed as a striker...
People will always have their preference but like I said the margin is very small.

ojaysam25:

I totally agree with the second paragraph but in the 1st you said that ronaldo can not work without a quality winger or midfield that's wrong,the midfielders in juve this past season were below par yet that doesn't stop him from delivery....tho with a more quality midfielder he would have done better but still he did more than enough with that juve team....the problem with barca like you guys said is that the players are not good enough.....there is no player that doesn't need quality players to excel...
What you guys don't understand is that they are various role on the pitch,messi and ronaldo do not play the same position in a team...messi is a playmaker while ronaldo was once a winger but due to him being the greatest poacher of his generation he has been redeployed as a striker...
People will always have their preference but like I said the margin is very small.

love that ur first sentence dt said messi is a playmaker and cr7 was once a winger and now mostly as a striker....dnt u think dt messi av an edge in playmaking and also score goals unlike cr7 dt do score great goals only and may fumble without quality playmaker??

paulolee:

love that ur first sentence dt said messi is a playmaker and cr7 was once a winger and now mostly as a striker....dnt u think dt messi av an edge in playmaking and also score goals unlike cr7 dt do score great goals only and may fumble without quality playmaker??

Messi is a better playmaker than ronaldo however when it comes to goalscoring no player comes close...ronaldo as a winger was a terror to defender both in manutd and early Madrid,has a striker he is the greatest poacher of his generation...a time will come when messi can no longer be an effective playmaker,if that happens can he play another role or just retire?
The difference between Ronaldo and other striker is that he doesn't need a quality midfielders to score...Ronaldo can play in west ham and easily score 25-30goals a season tho he need quality players to win trophies but not to score goals.....while messi needs a team that suit him to flourish,ronaldo can flourish with a poor team thats the difference