Messi’s successor is already here

Juan Pablo Sorin has heaped praise on Messi.

Former Argentina international Juan Pablo Sorin recalls when Lionel Messi first broke into the national team and also names the only person who could have replaced the little magician.

In an interview with FIFA’s official website, Sorin said that Messi deserves to win a World Cup and the current Argentinian crop are more than capable of achieving the feat.

The ex-footballer said, “the current generation around [Lionel] Messi deserves to win the World Cup. Our generation was unable to win that elusive title at senior level, and I wish and believe that this hugely talented generation can win it.

Sorin also recalled the moment him and his teammates realised they had a huge talent at their disposal.

He added, “I remember Messi as a youngster at Germany 2006, and you could see he was different, a very unique talent. We treated him like a rare jewel because you could see his potential. There is no doubt now that he is the best player in the world.

“His intelligence on the pitch sets him apart from the others, you could see that in the recent El Clasico win in Madrid. He is the complete player, has incredible speed, finishing, passing vision, and sees the games much before others do. We’ve run out of superlatives to describe what Messi does.”

At the end of the interview, Sorin named the only person who he believes could have been a potential successor for Messi:

“Neymar is on his way, and his development clearly shows that he wants to be the best in the world. Neymar is still in pole position, but Paulo Dybala is developing and adapting very fast.”