Question of the Week: How would have C.Ronaldo and Messi developed if they ...

[yoyo913]

Remember, if you have an idea for a question you would like to see, PM it to Mandieta6, and each week one question will be selected based on the quality of the question and it's subject. He will not choose the questions on my own, but this is the best way to ensure that we don't keep discussing the same things.

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This week's question is sent by Horattata:

How would have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi developed if they didn't go to Manchester Utd/Barcelona? Where do you think their career would be today?


Past Questions:

2011

13/9 - What will football be like in 50 years?
19/9 - What are some rule changes that would improve the game?
3/10 - The European Super-League Discussion
11/10 - How would you spend 50m?
19/10 - Why does ____ underperform?
26/10 - How to stop Barcelona?
13/12 - What players have you come to respect/dislike?
20/12 - Who will win the Euros?

2012

2/1 - Should the Prem introduce a winter break?
9/1 - Who is the most two-footed player?
15/1 - What is the toughest position?
23/1 - Who is Portugal's Revelation Player for 2011?
3/2 - Should the Old Firm compete in the English leagues?
13/2 - Is Guardiola Overrated?
24/2 - Who are the German league's best players?
6/3 - Which players messed up their careers by switching clubs?
13/3 - What is the most shocking transfer of all-time?
16/5 - Your Favorite Player (NOT based on performance)?
10/6 - The 2016 Euro Expansion
12/7 - Best Goal Ever?
3/8 - World Cup vs. Champions League Discussion
13/8 - Yugoslavia
19/8 - Confederations Cup
25/8 - Standarized Pitch Sizes
27/8 - What Transfers Would you Like to See?
3/9 - Most Interesting Team of the New Season
10/9 - Cup-Tied Restrictions
18/9 - The Perfect Footballer
26/9 - Best One-Trick Pony
3/10 - Best Young Goalkeeper
10/10 - Best Goalkeeper Ever
17/10 - A World Without Football
24/10 - Best Utility Player
31/10 - Who will have a Breakout Season?
9/11 - Who will be the Best Players of the Future?
19/11 - Who Carries his Team the Furthest?
27/11 - Who is Exceeding Expectations?
4/12 - Who is Performing Below Expectations?
10/12 - How Young is Too Young?
20/12 - Cristiano Ronaldo - All-Time Great?
30/12 - The Winter Transfer Window

2013

7/1 - Italy's Wonderkids
18/1 - Messi at a Mediocre Club
29/1 - Greatest Transfer Successes/Failures
5/2 - Who are the Eredivisie's Best Players?
3/3 - Best Youth Products XI
8/4 - Homosexuality in Football
18/4 - Sexiest Footballer
26/4 - Expected & Desired Transfers
2/5 - Dawn of the German Era?
8/5 - Fergie's Retirement
19/5 - Seasonal Eurovision
19/8 - League's Best 11 (without Top Teams)
28/8 - Looking Back at the 2012 Draft
14/11 - Transfer Cap
21/11 - Most Spectacular Derby
28/11 - Who shouldn't have left ?

 

[MaestroZidane]

Barcelona invested money into Messi's health and growth, so the question then becomes if any other team would have done the same. Otherwise, we may not be hearing as much from him. Ronaldo would have flourished in any other team, so he probably would still be the player we see today.

 

[chygry]

Ronaldo would have flourished in any other team, so he probably would still be the player we see today.

This. But i don't think he would be the same player without Ferguson, i don't mean less talented, but i think SAF motivated him when he needed it the most while being young.

About Messi hmm, this guy is so good that he'd be excellent anywhere.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

They would both be great.

 

[yoyo913]

I think the risk is that C Ronaldo wouldn't have developed his determined attitude to be so great if he was around different people and that Messi wouldn't be able to showcase his talent as much. There's a good chance neither of them would have won the best player of the year award if they went to different clubs.

 

[Mus]

Ronaldo was gonna go to Juve then we got caught up in calciopoli and united swooped. I wonder how hr would have faired in serie b

 

[Xifio]

Ronaldo was gonna go to Juve then we got caught up in calciopoli and united swooped. I wonder how hr would have faired in serie b

calciopoli? no, it was Marcelo Salas: ARTICLE

and if he had gone to Juve, he'd have been a star, and then ended up at Madrid anyway ...

but I remember reading about Barça having had an option on him too ... and they opted not to use it as they had just signed Ricardo Quaresma ...

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Messi may not have won like 10 Ballon d'Ors when all is said and done, but he would have won a few. He's too naturally gifted, and they clearly don't teach his flair and dribbling at La Masia. The kid was a top 5-10 player in the world before his 19th birthday.

Ronaldo would have still been great, but it's possible that he would have been only as good as Robben with a 100 times better physique if he went elsewhere.

 

[Back Door Skip]

Messi would be fat and shorter and playing in Brazil... scoring 30+ goals a season.


Ronaldo would be pretty much the same as ManU didn't have much to do with him flourishing.

 

[Arnau]

Messi would be serving Snow White

 

[chygry]

Messi would be serving Snow White

That's just so wrong. If your mind is as corrupted as mine is.

 

[Mus]

calciopoli? no, it was Marcelo Salas: ARTICLE

and if he had gone to Juve, he'd have been a star, and then ended up at Madrid anyway ...

but I remember reading about Barça having had an option on him too ... and they opted not to use it as they had just signed Ricardo Quaresma ...

My bad..

 

[Filipower]

You can't really fault Barça though, Quaresma was considered to have had more potential than Ronaldo. To this day managers who coached both say this.


They both sucked ass compared to Fábio Paim, though.

 

[Xifio]

You can't really fault Barça though, Quaresma was considered to have had more potential than Ronaldo. To this day managers who coached both say this.


They both sucked ass compared to Fábio Paim, though.

poor fella Paim, now consigned to the football annals of cautionary tales ...

and you're right of course about Barça ... it's easy now to see him for what he is -- as Shifty famously said a couple of years ago: "I always pictured Quaresma as a street performer who fooled people into thinking he was a footballer" ... but it took a final flop under Mourinho to cement that reputation ...

and anyway, Simão was essentially a failed gamble a couple of years before that, so it would have taken Quaresma properly thriving for an entire season before they would have gone back to Sporting for a second helping of tricksy wingers ...

Messi would be serving Snow White

hahaha ... yup, easy to see a revisionist history of Cristiano's successful career (including leading inevitably to Real Madrid), but not so much with Messi's career ... that's the real question isn't it: would Leo have gotten the treatment he needed elsewhere if Barça had passed on him?

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Speaking of sporting wingers, I remember when Coentrao was the next great one

 

[Filipower]

He didn't play for Sporting. Unless you meant "the next great" just winger. But even then I don't really think Coentrão was ever touted as the next great one (at least not over here, don't know about international media)

 

[Arnau]

Yeah Coentrao appeared from nowhere the season Benfica won Liga Sagres, he was a reserve at Zaragoza in second division.

 

[Filipower]

He had good loan seasons with Nacional and Rio Ave, but the real trick was Jorge Jesus using him as a left-back.

Oh and Ronaldo once famously said "If you think I’m good, just wait until you see Fabio Paim". On the topic though, it's hard to tell because them having become great in such big clubs means that if they hadn't been there, other players would and different transfers would have happened and history would have been quite different, but I think both of them would have been great. Who knows, maybe even greater!