Captain wrote:
Ricky, you have to come back to reality at some point.
You just said two players who many would argue have been the best midfielders in world football for over a decade are limited and then you suggested that Wilshere will somehow be able to dribble like Messi in three years, arguably the best dribbler that football has ever seen.
So according to you, Wilshere will be the best player to ever grace a football pitch more or less. Come on man, be serious.
That's not what I think, even if that's how it reads.
I'm basically saying imagine if you gave Paul Scholes more strength and power, and the ability to run quickly with and without the ball. That's how I see Wilshere in a few years, and Messi kind of resembled that yesterday. So yes a fabulously good footballer, one of the best in the world, but I've been saying that for years now, and the more Jack plays, the less incredulity such claims seem to be met with. But Messi is Messi, and I genuinely, honestly, hand on heart don't think Jack has a chance of being as good as Messi - he's otherworldly. And I never said he'll ever be able to dribble like Messi, but he can and will be able to dribble a damn sight better than Xavi or Scholes can - there is some middle ground between the two.
Scholes and Xavi are, or in Scholes' case, were, fabulously good midfielders, but of course they're limited as central midfielders. Can they tackle? No. Can they dribble? No. Can they run quickly? No. Do they have big scoring potential? No. Would you back either one to win a 50/50? No. Would you back either one to score a one-on-one in a big game or even put themselves in that position in the first place? No.
Does that mean they're not fabulously good at what they do? No.
To be fair Capi, if I had said to you at the start of the season that Wilshere would produce a performance of that quality, in that setting, you would have said come on man, be serious. In fact we've had similar discussions before. I remember when I said I didn't want or think we needed Schweinsteiger or Ozil, when we were linked with them in the summer - and you basically said the same thing to me then. You couldn't believe that I could possibly rate Wilshere in even the same bracket as Ozil - granted their positions are a little different right now, but would you swap Jack for him now?
