Patrick,
Maradona? A trickster and a fraud but a genius with a ball at his feet. Paraphasing Larry Holmes, he couldn't carry Johaans jockstrap.
As for Cruyff, I am thinking not only of his skills but of his brain and the continuation of Rinus Michels 'Total Football' concept.'
Bob
Bob,
Fair point.
I guess it comes down to what you would consider "best footballer" to mean. For me, it translates to the most gifted at football (e.g. ball handling skills, vision and adaptability, etc.), who's able to raise the level of a team head and shoulders above what it would be otherwise, and won at the top of international and club football.
With that in mind, I'd stand by my list.
Maradona won everywhere he went. Took Argentina to the top and Napoli as well. Unbelieveable skills and prolific goal scorer. Selfish? Often yes, but he lifted every team he played on. By himself, he could dismantle an opposing team.
I mean ... on one leg he still took Argentina to the final in '90.
Sense of fairplay (e.g. cheating, diving, etc.)? Well ... I hope I don't offend too many Argentines on this forum, but .... nah ... no point in getting kicked off this forum. Then we know about his habits etc. that cut down what could have been an even greater career.
No doubt Cruyff was great, but as you hinted ... he had the Total Football working for and with him and he very much perfromed his best within that kind of team. I mean Holland went to the final again in '78 without him. We could easily argue that back in his time things were different for playing at different clubs etc., but Cruyff did play at Barcelona. Not much was collected hardware wise when he was there.
I think we could go on and on...
Back to golf and "who are you guys" I say 'cause I'm getting way OT with this.