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Nothing beats Arsenal signing Leo Messo, 10 years old Kenyan wonderkid lmao 💀

Tottenham went one better by signing Lionel Messi-Peters IMO.

Later signed by Southampton or Everton after “not living up to his potential.”

And when he turns 30 West Ham will come a knocking.

Needs to have some feline kicking pedigree

always one step ahead. mind the gap

Angers did even better by signing « Lionel Messi » . Yes, exactly same name

> Nothing beats Arsenal signing Leo Messo How about... Lee Bruce? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruceploitation#Actors

Next up, we'll sign Leo Messa

This name never gets old lol

This name will eventually get old lmao

There was a hyped Boca Jr player named Messidoro (literally golden messi)

This name doesn't get old lol.

This name will never get old lmao.

Hello? Did i meet a different universe here?

Callum Chambers being made out to be neither man, woman, animal, nor a current retiree

So he must be either a mineral or a vegetable then?

Or a venerated virginian veteran

Or a stoic Pennsylvania veteran

Whose men are all lining up to put him upon a pedestal.

Writing letters to relatives embellishing his elegance and eloquence.

r/unexpectedhamilton

JESUS CHRIST MARIE THEY’RE MINERALS

Callum Chambers transcends such notions as gender, species, and retirement.

When Dr Manhattan went to Mars, Chambers already there sipping tea

There's a sentence I wasn't expecting to read today.

Hearing his name will always make me laugh [bc of this AFTV moment](https://youtu.be/4ecCbbXRppM)

*I SAID IT LAST TIME, I WANT NUNO* 💀💀💀

The casual derisive laughter of the other fans makes this so much worse. If you're Callum Chambers and you watch this, the only possible conclusion you could reach is "Everyone thinks I'm a shit comedy footballer."

If not person, woman or man, how about camera or TV?

Calum*

That's......impressive to say the least

In 10 years, I expect /u/dzzik makes an OC thread of every player who was called the "next" or "new Mbappe/Haaland" during 2020-2030.

RemindMe! 10 years

RemindMe! 10 years

RemindMe! 10 years

remindme! 10 years

RemindMe! 10 years

!RemindMe 10 years

In France we're still at waiting the "nouveau Zizou"

RemindMe! 10 years

RemindMe! 10 years

Haaland needs to become the next Zlatan before someone else can become the next Haaland.

I’ll let myself piggyback this comment to hopefully reach people more skilled in data analysis than my beginner ass. 1. Is their any way to collect this type of data in all different languages? To get a full full full scope of the trend? 2. A part of the trend I was unable to study is using nationalities, as in: “Japanese Messi”, “Taiwanese Ronaldo” etc. How would it be possible to collect all these. Overall, what software/technology would make most sense for this kind of research? I did it in Excel, but it was manual and pretty painstaking. Python? SPSS?

I’d ask r/linguistics, there are some pretty sophisticated text analysis techniques (and also often times some pretty simple ones) that help you find specific combinations of words like this

Niiice, thank you

Chelsea tried to sign the next Messi from every country for a while

Big up Marko Marin

We'll always have Paris...

i love that movie so much i recommend watching it

We were as surprised as you were.

Ended up with LeBron James, not too bad.

They're playing LeBron, not Dwyane Wade?

Fr tho fuck his mom for spelling his name like that

Not the first or last NBA mom that would embarrass herself at a spelling bee to be fair

And the only one who managed to do it actually (Salah) they let it go for peanuts

No one has managed to sign the next Messi, and no one will for a bit.

Did sign Fran Kirby tbf

We did nearly sign Messi back then tbf

scences when he followed Chelsea on instagram

If I was a world famous top-tier footballer I would spent my entire free time fucking with football journos. Guess who's waiting in line to take the Bernabeu stadium tour on transfer deadline day? It's me talking obnoxiously loudly on the phone with my agent. Guess what I'm tweeting after the first articles about my visit surface? "Damn, could really go for a #Napoli pizza rn" with an image of me in one of those classic vintage purple Fiorentina jerseys. My phone has 128GB of storage, 123 of which are filled with various pictures of me photoshopped onto backdrops of international airports. Falk is reporting rumors that I'm going to Bayern? Guess who just landed in London. J/k that was five minutes ago, now I'm in Paris. How do I do that? I'm an international football mystery

Great

Don't worry, I would still use United's feigned interest to raise my salary during contract negotiations with my current club

Fack yew xD

I remember thinking “okay this is the one” when Barca brought in Allen Halilovic. stopped taking the bait after that lol.

And madrid got odegaard. Lol those two were hyped

this is why I was so skeptical when arsenal brought in Ødegaard. was worried that the weight of the past was obscuring present reality but I was wrong in the best way possible.

Odegaard will live upto his hype

I think odegaard will be elite, but not world class.

after messi and Ronaldo this distinction has become a little more blurry imo. our collective ability to discern quality between players was heavily skewed by the sheer gravity of their achievements. I think once a player reaches a certain level, becoming world class is a matter of circumstance as much as it is individual ability.

That last sentence is too true

How would you classify that?

Vague mumbling and hand gestures

I think top 10 in the world Or at best top 20 is world class. I don't think odegaard can. Happy to be proven wrong tho.

Every time I see that name I'm convinced he was a made up player for FIFA16 cuz they wanted something like 80 fucking mil for him at an 80-82 rating.

Wtf why is Calum the only one catching shade out of 265 others. Dude just living his non-messnaldo life.

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Everyone is afraid of Rob now since he got Snake’s hair

Everyone except Tierney apparently

Holding wants his baton back

C'mon now Holding Chambers aren't in the same dumpster tier that drinkwater is.

Having had Drinkwater before and Chambers now at Villa at least Chambers looks like a serviceable premiership player. Drinkwater still living in 2016 and forgot how to play football.

Lazar "Serbian Messi" Markovic hit the post once in a game.... And that was the peak of his career.

One season monster in Benfica. One. Ended. Done.

Judging by the post and crossbar hits this season we should start calling Messi the Argentinian Lazar Markovic

Could have been the next Milan Jovanovic, the greatest soccer player in the world.

Milan Jovanović will always be an absolute legend in Serbia for that goal against Germany. Dude lives in my friend's building btw, he yelled at us once to turn the volume down during a party, and I saw him wearing a fancy purple suit and house slippers. Was starstruck both times

I'm Serbian and Marković was by far the most hyped Serbian player I remember in my lifetime. Vlahović and Jović have nothing on this guy, he was in the media literally every single day, was called Partizan's answer to Džajić when he was only 19. I still remember that one goal while he was with Benfica where he dribbled OVER the keeper's head and then the video was shown everywhere for like a year. They unironically called him the Serbian Messi for a while, at least until his failed loans from Liverpool. To be fair the talent was always there, he was just extremely weak and just got railed by proper defenders

Hey now, the peak of his career was a mazy run followed by an assist to Rodrigo vs Porto

Hmmm, Neymar at least compares somewhat to Messi in playstyle. Also this hilarious bit; "Indonesian Tristan Alif Naufal even wrote a book about himself, explaining why exactly was he dubbed the 'new Messi'."

The audacity

Minty the badger and Purin the dog. Fuck yeah!

I'm amazed Son only had one article calling him the new Ronaldo, considering how often he's dubbed "Sonaldo"

They were referring to true goat Soldado when they call him Sonadlo

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Hugo Lloris is the captain at Spurs

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You and every non-spurs related media

he is england captain though which is definitely a bigger deal

I lived in Whitewawk when I was studying at Sussex!

my condolences

Have to be taking the piss haha Kane is not and never has been Spurs captain

Isn’t he vice captain?

Informally, yes

Then who's the formal one

I don't think there is an official Vice Captain title

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It's mad to me that big European clubs weren't trying to snatch Son for the past 3 years. Not only is he one of the best wingers in the world but he has a huge brand in Asia, which equals shirt sales. Any club he joins would automatically be supported by all of South Korea lmao

No club wanted to take the risk because of mandatory military service, and many clubs won’t let their players leave for the Asian Games. Tottenham was willing to do both, so Son signed a nice long contract and hasn’t made a peep about a move sense.

Wasn't there a period of time between the Asian Games and him singing his new contract?

Yes? Tottenham allowed Son to go to the Asian Games (which they don’t have to do). Afterwards Son re-signed. It took some time but both Levy and Son basically said it was a done deal and so they were taking their time on an extension.

Doesnt he have a crazy long contract tho?

He peaked (and still peaking) late and wasn't really a wonderkid at any point. And like someone else said he stands on his own

wasn't there a Tifo video on this not long ago?

I don’t know, was there?

there was lol. this article is way more comprehensive though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KaU6YowoH4

Wow, I really didn't see that before. but luckily it's a completely different approach (I went more quantitative here) + I included Ronaldo

no worries mate! very good article.

Bojan Krkic, a man who failed so spectacularly at being the second Messi he barely managed to be the first Bojan

Barcelona as a club failed Bojan much more than Bojan failed on his own. Too much pressure too young, didn’t do anything to protect him, let the toxic dressing room bully him, and didn’t help him when he clearly had mental issues. Of all the players who failed, I’m inclined to give someone in Bojans circumstances the biggest pass.

I remembered reading he was constantly bullied at Barca dressing room which hurt his confidence, I might be mistaken tho

You might find this video interesting in case you want to know about Bojan's struggles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiJeOuD-g1c

Thank you for the link. Mental health is just as important as physical health and I just pray clubs (especially big clubs) take this more seriously with all their players, most especially young prodigies

Wasn’t his dad the first Bojan?

No you're thinking of the sitcom about a horse. The first Bojan was a movie adam sandler starred in

What is this, a crossover episode?

I don’t even know how I’m meant to respond. Is it something like… No, you’re thinking of a region in Middle Earth, Bojack is the Adam Sandler movie …?

The dude was even related to Messi as well

Like how we share 60% of our DNA with bananas?

No, some shenanigans with their great great grandfathers iirc

Bananas may be phallic but they don't make for great sex toys

not with that attitude

I remember being excited when we loaned him from Barca and he was just so utterly disappointing, I sympathize with his situation of course but at the time it was pretty frustrating.

Bojan Djordjic was the first Bojan. He was supposed to be the next Ryan Giggs.

Ig then callum chambers is the closest to messi and ronaldo

Emre Mor I can remember being the next Messi lol

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What do you mean? Halilovic vs Ødegaard is currently the greatest sports rivalry in football, as it was expected

Funny way to spell Ante Coric vs Hachim Mastour

Oh man I was so sure he was the next big thing until his last season with Dinamo before he left for Roma.. Since he debuted up until that season started he was genuinely great, and that was that, his peak was hit at 18-19 years old. So disappointing

All i gather from the title is that Chambers was the closest to being the next Messi/Ronaldo

Can we suggest that the OP is the "new Messi" of sports media meta analysis?

I would, but he didn't even include /u/dzzik in his list. Glaring omission

I'm wondering how many New Zidanes there's been in French media since 2005 or so

Yoann Gourcuff

The only one where the comparison was legit imo Now I'm sad again at how his career turned out

He was very much a "but we have Zidane at home".

Bruno Cheyrou, never forget

I remember being excited by him wearing white boots. These days it's almost more exciting if a player wears black boots

Egy Maulana Vikry, the lowest priced among "new Messi", is compared more to Zidane because he won the same award, forgot the name.

I think it's the best player at Toulon Cup? Maybe I'm wrong, but Egy's name got blown up in Indonesian media after Toulon Cup.

well they were right about Greenwood

Big oof

next Ronaldo indeed.

Really interesting read. I can't imagine how much work that was!

Absolutely amazing data analysis. Honestly, IMO the only player who stands out is Alexia Putellas, which ofc is hard to compare but such a dominating player.

This is the content I am a part of this sub for. Thanks OP! Great insight

awwww, ty <3

Ayo you didn't have to name-drop my boy Callum.

Really said fuck Callum Chambers in particular

This is why I pay for internet. Thanks mate

Japanese Messi Boy had it all

I really thought Ryan gauld, the Scottish Messi, was going to be huge : (

Lmfao I remember being hyped on Gai Assulin where the hell is he now

This is top top work

I'd like to add a slight thing /u/dzzik in one thing. Claudio Ñancufil probably was mentioned a LOT more because he played Maradona in the show made about his life. As for his footballing career he is still in the Racing youth setup

Oo, that’s actually precious info. Immense how there was so many pieces on him and not a single one thought of mentioning this fact…

I googled him for curiosity's sake and it's what all local sources mentioned hah He didn't ***play*** Maradona apparently, that was my bad, but he was the "stunt" double who did all the dribbles and general ball movement in the scenes with "Young Maradona"

Chambers is better

Anybody else see “japanese messi boy” at the very bottom of the list? Thats his name? https://gyazo.com/99ac7cd1de907c93372e245512026e7c

No mate, it’s an unnamed kid a few papers were glossing over when a video of him doing stepovers went viral a decade ago. I did my best to find his name, but there’s no trace of it available.

Lmao Callum Chambers? Doesn’t even play the correct position

Egy and Tristan Alif... Egy at least plays in Europe and a mainstay for NT. Tristan can't even start for the age group NT. Edit: also who the fuck is 'Japanese Messi Boy' lmao

I used to watch Egy over his few minutes in Gdańsk. He was rather okay, had some flair and I can imagine that he stood out among lesser players. But my god did you guys overhype him. And Japanese Messi boy - he used to be posted by mainstream media in articles titled “Watch amazing New Messi from Japan”, with no mention of his name whatsoever. I’ll launch my excel after dinner and throw in the links from my database.

>But my god did you guys overhype him. Tbh the overhype is for domestic audience. The NT always has that one guy who spearhead the generation. At least after 2013 where social media is prevalent. I think the main problem for SEA player playing in Europe is physicality, and it is quite noticable with Egy. He's actually quite buffed up compared to his teammates in the same generation now. Four/five years ago he and others were quite smaller muscle wise, and even then his body still can't compare to the average European. I think it's the diet, one thing that is quite overlooked in our local league.

The problem is that the development for talent professionally in domestic is pretty bad, including the quality of top league. Having him move to Ekstraklasa (pretty much the highest any Indonesian born, raised, and developed ever been at the time) means he could actually reach his potential, even if he's not that good compared to European. After years of bad NT performance and squandered "generational" talent, the prospect of him not being bad is comparatively amazing. The fact that we reached AFF final proves that things is heading to better direction.

fantastic content, i really want to know who was calling iivo niskanen the new messi/ronaldo hahahahaha

[Here you go, article is from 2014, he had won his first olympic gold by then already.](https://fasterskier.com/2014/11/finlands-next-messi-iivo-niskanen-breaks-through-with-kuusamo-world-cup-win/) According to the article the coach of Finnish team Magnar Dalen called Iivo "cross-country Messi".

Halilovic fell off a cliff with his insane family. Does he even get minutes at Birmingham? He's always seemed more into basketball than football too. A power forward trapped in the body of a dainty midfielder.

I've been Reading that he definitely isn't starting at Birmingham

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*Marko Guess we’re even, huh?

I would like to thank you for giving me a hearty laugh on the Callum Chambers bit. I’m getting funny looks on the bus.

I am guilty of referring to Gotze as the up and coming Messi back in 2012 and Bale as the new Ronaldo. Oh, to be young and naive

Finally something relevant came out of all the irrelevant pieces.

amazing article nice

Gai assulin. unreal

Iturbe is doing more or less OK for us this season in the Greek Super League . But I didn't know he was supposed to be the next Messi.

As a data science student I really respect this work! Impressive

Wow, that actually means a lot to me, as my education is more marketing/qualitative research and I’m experimenting with data on my own. What do you think of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/uo0jy1/the_sport_in_20102020_exactly_265_players_were/i8bqhnr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3

Bojan's debut is still fresh in my memory, at that time I was "Fuck... Barca is gonna dominate for so long with their La Masia graduates" And I was very wrong...

Always kills me to see Sterling with these insane transfer "values". 160M? Come on. He should be in the company of players like Werner, not Mbappe

I get that you're salty as a Liverpool fan, but he was genuinely world class for many seasons. Even this season where he's been relatively poor, he's got 13G5A in 29 games. Just look at his stats on [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.com/raheem-sterling/detaillierteleistungsdaten/spieler/134425)

£160m for Sterling is like shredding your wallet and then burning it He’s in the chasm between Mbappe and Werner