A sobering reality: Football without its GOATs

July 14 2024- Spain finish the coveted UEFA European Championship in Germany as winners with an absolutely flawless run, capped off by a 2-1 win over England in the final in Berlin, securing their fourth European championship. And on the day, 17 year old Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal won the best young player of the tournament, and deservingly so as he finished the competition with four assists and one goal, which he scored against massive favourites France in the semifinal and also subsequently went on to win goal of the tournament.

Yamal's performances could have argued that he deserved to win the main player of the tournament award as well, which was won by fellow Spaniard and Manchester City powerhouse, Rodri, but I digress as regardless Yamal returned from the competition as a national icon and that too at the tender age of 17, as since the likes of the great Pele at the 1958 World Cup the footballing world has not seen a 17 year old absolutely shine on one of the biggest international stages of the sport.

While Yamal's performances are commendable, they have once again given rise to a very annoying trend in the footballing world, which has become more prevalent in the past few years, and I like to call this trend "The next" so on and so forth, which obviously is often followed by the names of some of the greatest of the game in the modern era-Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. In Yamal's case, it obviously is Messi, due to the absolutely fascinating coincidental connections, besides the obvious La Masia roots in Barcelona and playing positions of right winger, Messi had been photographed bathing an infant Yamal in 2007 as part of a UNICEF calendar shoot, due to Barcelona's ties with the foundation. Many have cited that photo as the moment Messi "christened" Yamal, implying he was destined to be star he is today. While digging up these coincidences and making jokey remarks may be entertaining, it goes to show that many in the footballing world are desperately on the lookout for "The next".

Unfortunately the heyday of watching the likes Messi and Ronaldo scoring upwards of thirty plus goals a season like its nothing, going head to head in all-star El Clasicos and one upping each other for the Ballon d'or each year are gone, as both icons are approaching the age of forty and are playing out their remaining days in, for the lack of a better term- retirement homes in the USA and Saudi Arabia respectively. While their time outside Europe may have begun recently, it was evident that their quality was on the decline, as compared to their prime in the early to mid-2010s, as they often were still ending as one of the highest, if not the highest scorers in their respective leagues, approaching the mid thirties threshold in age, a point where majority of players decide to hang up their boots or play in exotic leagues around, as they are now when approaching the ripe old age of forty.

But when this decline was evident, meaning that one or the other were not out right favourites to win a Ballon d’or, the community started looking around for another young talent that seemed even slightly capable of emulating the ability of Messi or Ronaldo, with the first most evident example being French forward, Kylian Mbappe, after he burst onto the scene with AS Monaco in 2017, and further after winning the best young player at the 2018 World Cup which France won, all before the age of 19. And now it is undeniable that Mbappe has solidified his place as one of the best players in the world, consistently racking up league titles and over twenty goals and assists each season with Paris St. Germain in France and now finally securing a move to European giants- Real Madrid. Mbappe certainly has done enough in his career to earn the reputation he has today, but it is debatable that he has done enough to be compared to the likes of Messi or more in his case- Ronaldo, a player he has idolized and one his playing style is quite similar to. And now with Mbappe completing his move to the Los Blancos, and donning the number 9 jersey, what Ronaldo wore when joining Madrid himself in 2009, the comparisons have already begun with Mbappe “following” Ronaldo in his footsteps, and to bring it full circle back to Lamine Yamal, many hope to see the two clash in El Clasico affairs in a similar manner to Messi and Ronaldo.

It mainly is the obsession to see a rivalry of that calibre that forces audiences to draw these comparisons between upcoming talents in football, with Norwegian Erling Haaland also being drawn into this comparison, purely due to the reason his goalscoring numbers, that invokes faint echoes to that of a prime Messi or Ronaldo.  And thus audiences stated Haaland and Mbappe are the latest rivals that will clash in a similar manner as their predecessors. While there isn’t anything particularly wrong about drawing these comparisons, many of my generation have grown up seeing the likes of Messi and Ronaldo break record after another, almost inspiring each other to be the best version of themselves, and it is undeniable that the sport has never seen talents of that level before, that too our generation was blessed to see two of them together, whilst previous ones only hoped to see someone like Pele and Diego Maradona play together at the same time. But this must be more than enough evidence that such an occurrence is quiet literally once in a blue moon, and may not happen just like that any time soon. The stars of today will make a mark in the game in their own unique ways and a young starlet such as Yamal still may have the potential to actually make it as big as Messi, but it is not fair to these talents to always be spoken about in the same sentence as the two greats.

While it may be inspiring to be compared to individuals with such a high reputation, it can bring some unforeseen circumstances such as pressures of living up to those names, and then eventually fading into obscurity due to those pressures causing injuries or lead to inflated ego, that results in loss of form and many more unfortunate situations. Or has the world already forgotten about the likes of Freddy Adu, Robinho, Bojan, and Ricardo Quaresma, players who were spoken on the same wavelength as Pele, Messi and Ronaldo but had spent most days sitting out due to injury or even in Robinho’s case being charged with felony, and thus never really ended up making a mark on the game. Or more recently, Ansu Fati, who is still only 21, but is on the same path as the above mentioned names after being dubbed “The next Messi” and even donning the Argentine’s iconic number 10 jersey at Barcelona, has struggled with injuries for the past three years and after a disappointing spell at Brighton on loan last season, is already an afterthought in terms of “The next” in football.

Its clear to see why there is a consensus to compare emerging talents to some of the greats in the game, and how it can have both positive and negative impacts on the mentality of these new players. However, these talents should be left alone and be seen in their own light for their own unique abilities and talents, as that is how they receive the opportunity to grow into their best individual selves, just as how Messi and Ronaldo inspired each other in a natural manner over several years, the likes of Yamal, Mbappe, Haaland or anyone else new to burst onto the sport need to learn and grow into the best version of themselves, so the next generation can shape their “next” on the images of these stars.