As fledgling football players, everyone has idols they look up to. Players who they’re inspired by. Players who stand out from the crowd, be it for their technical ability or their undying mental resilience.
We were wondering recently which players we’d recommend grassroots players should watch from an early age to learn from and improve their own skills and knowledge of football.
To that end, we’ve come up with a quartet of players who are guaranteed to enchant and motivate the next generation of football stars.
Lionel Messi
It goes without saying that Lionel Messi is one of the most gifted players in football’s glittering history. With 474 goals in 520 appearances for Barcelona, 108 goals in 183 appearances for Argentina, Messi is etched into football folklore.
At just 5ft 7”, Messi is proof you don’t have to be a physical specimen to be a professional footballer. However, what Messi does lack, he more than makes up for in the technique stakes. His close control, dribbling and low centre of gravity are a nightmare for defenders. He is always capable of making something happen, which is a marvellous trait to have as a footballer.
Ronaldinho
For pure flair, there’s very few who compare to Brazilian ace Ronaldinho. The former Barcelona icon won a Ballon d’Or as well as a brace of FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
He’s been retired for nine years and despite his absence from the game he is still revered for his unpredictability and creativity, which he attributes to his early exposure to Futsal. He’s still relevant in popular culture, as characterised by featuring in one of the newest slots released in the regulated iGaming scene.
Zinedine Zidane
Zidane is still considered one of the most elegant footballers of “the beautiful game”. The midfielder made the game look effortless, gliding across the turf and demonstrating an exquisite range of passing. It’s his passing range and vision which sets him apart and should act as an inspiration to the next generation of footballing talent.
Zidane was never blessed with speed and acceleration, but he was always capable of thinking a yard faster in his head than his opponents. He won three FIFA World Player of the Year awards, as well as the Ballon d’Or in 1998 after winning the World Cup.
Johan Cruyff
Going even further back, Dutch winger, Johan Cruyff, was another pioneer of the sport we love. He was part of the “Total Football” era which the Netherlands conceived with such success. Cruyff was a master with the ball at his feet and practically impossible to dispossess.
He even coined his very own on-field move – the Cruyff turn – which remains a popular technique to change direction with the ball fast. Like Zidane, Cruyff wasn’t physically tall, strong or fast, just technically gifted with a brain built for the sport.
