As of right now, I am 25 years old, and I am glad to finally have an explanation why a football career never worked out for me.

Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Keven De Bruyne, Thomas Muller etc there's no shortage of decent players in this category

Messi and Ronaldo are both a gift and a curse to football. On one side, they gave us spectacle never before seen. On the other hand, they made us think that players who can't reach their level are failures.

Eden Hazard, Bale and Neymar all had comeparetatively short careers while Messi and Ronaldo had very long ones

A lot of the 25-35 year olds right now would be right up there in other eras. It’s because of this Messi/Ronaldo era and nostalgia bias which contributed to this idea that the current generation of 25-35 year olds isn’t as good as previously or won’t be as good as the next. De Bruyne, Mo Salah and Harry Kane etc. honestly are all timers

I think the actual main cause has been the massive tactical revolution of the late 2010s which basically changed the role of every position on the pitch. The number 10 is gone, the role of strikers is completely different, wingers are now the primary goal scorers of many elite teams, full backs are the primary creative force. I think the earliest and most prominent example is shift to ball playing ‘sweeper keepers’ brought about by Manuel Neuer in 2013-2014. It was so brutal for already established goalkeepers that Neuer has basically been the only consistently world class goalkeeper in his age range, everyone slightly older or younger didn’t have time to adapt. It’s only been with the emergence of the keepers who are 5 or more years younger than Neuer, who saw what he was doing as teenagers and were able to adopt it that we now have another crop of world class keepers all around the 27-31 years old mark (Allison, Courtois, Ederson, Oblak, Ter Stegen Maignan).

I think one of the reasons is the fact that football has changed a lot during the careers of Messi and Ronaldo. For those players a few years younger than them, expectations kept changing as the game evolved, whereas Messi and Ronaldo played in systems curated for them. The new generation of stars has been raised on the style of football we see today, so it makes sense that they are better suited than what's essentially the last of the old guard

The bias towards offense definitely shows also looking back. Players like Franz Beckenbauer or Lothar Matthäus are universally agreed to be some of the best German footballers ever and definitely above someone like Gerd Müller. Not to speak of goalkeepers. Manuel Neuer is for sure in the conversation of being the greatest goalie of all time.

The best player in the world debates have nearly always been about attacking players. The game has been in a constant state of flux from the 2010s to the '20s. All of those kids that grew up as 2-man strikers, touchline wingers and traditional 10s who were born after 1993 had to spend the first half of their professional careers changing their game to survive at the highest level. We've seen wingers turn into wingbacks & fullbacks, 2-man strikers spend their entire careers learning holdup play, and traditional 10s used as registas, wide forwards, and inverted fullbacks. The cohort before them had the advantage of being within a few years of their primes, meaning that managers were more likely to make a system around them and less likely to shoehorn them into new positions. It was left for the younger attacking players to exist and thrive in a world that didnt have the positions they grew up with. In another sense, imagine spending all of primary & secondary school learning one trade, just to find out it doesnt exist when you finally graduate. You'd likely spend the next few years learning how to get on in life before you were able to settle down and thrive. Meanwhile, the highschoolers who graduated behind you spent their entire childhood learning what took you until 25 to figure out. Yeah, they would overshadow you too. Combine that with going pro under the twin-shadow of Messi & Ronaldo, and its no wonder there's a lost generation. There are also arguments to be made about the younger cohort growing up with messi & ronaldo since babies, which normalized their standards + older cohort extending their careers to ages never before seen as a generation, increased emphasis on physical attributes, etc, etc. TL;DR: that generation of attacking players grew up learning positions that didnt exist when they went pro. They likely spent the first half of their careers re-learning new positions & their nuances before being able to truly thrive. Most never did.

Bellingham being ONE MONTH OLD when we signed Ronaldo the first time is criminal levels of insane 😭😭

I can consider Hazard, Neymar Salah and Kroos as the best generational talent in mid 2010s. It's just that the influence of Messi and Ronaldo are both too great for them to compete. I think what you tried to ask is where is someone born in 1993 to 1997 that bangs on the football stage.

I think the problem is more the years 1994-1997. From 1990-1993, you have many great,great players like Salah, Kane, de Bruyne,Kroos, Neymar,Griezmann,van Dijk

The 30-35 yr old age group is full of great players. The real problem is that the 25-29 yr old age group is full of players who have not reached their full potential. For example, Renato Sanches and Anthony Martial are former golden boy winners, but are nowhere near amongst the best players in the world. Other examples include: Alen Halilovic, Dele Alli and Max Meyer. This becomes clearer with players who could have been great number 9s such as: Rashford, Gabriel Jesus, André Silva, Luka Jovic and Timo Werner. I honestly think that this is the main reason why there is a shortage of great number 9s currently.

All this does is prove just how especially talented Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo have been ans we are truly lucky to have seen them play during the prime of their careers

The only reason players like Suarez aren’t era defining is because of Messi and Ronaldo. Put Suarez in most other generations and he would be top 2 easily. He should have won the ballon dor in 2016 when he out scored both Messi and Ronaldo with 59 goals and 24 assists in 53 games a goal tally that hasn’t since been replicated.

i think a big factor is anticipation. the likes of Bellingam, Haaland, Gavi or Musiala are judged not only by their current ability, but also for the potential they have to improve until they hit the 26-28 yr old bracket. Meanwhile for players of that age or above we only judge their current ability and achievements since they are at their peak. the likes of Kimmich, Rodri, Bernardo Silva are undoubtedly more complete and currently better players than anyone below the age of 25 with the exception of Mbappe, but because those players have room to improve and will probably become even better we feel like they are superior now

Its definitely the goal stats I saw kdbs 2019/20 chance creation stats and i was blown away he had the most chances created from open play in history for a season yet no one talks about it

Kane, Salah and De Bruyne are all in that age range. They are all 30 to 32. But as someone from this age range as well (I’m 27), when I was young watching football it was 2 man strikers, touchline midfield wingers, traditional full backs, and traditional 8 box to box players. I grew up watching box to box players taking long range shots (Gerrard), I grew up watching touchline wingers putting in crosses for the target man (players like Jermain Pennant, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright Phillips all come to mind), and I grew up watching target man strikers (Crouch and Rooney come to mind). That’s the football I grew up on watching as a kid. All this false 9, Tiki Taka, high press/gegenpress and all that style of football we’ve been seeing the last 10 years is something I didn’t grow up on as a kid, but it’s something that I’ve grown to see as a young adult. So I’m thinking footballers in that 26 to 29 age range struggled to get used to the big change in footballing styles when they were in youth academics.

Disagree with the entire hypothesis, but if I do humour it... This age bracket also spent their formative years just before or during the transition of the striker, the 10 and winger roles Coincidentally these positions are also what people will associate with "best in the world" labels

Can’t you argue that a player like Mbappe wouldn’t be looked at as good if he was born same time as Harry Kane because he’d be facing Messi and Ronaldo when they were even better?

As top players careers go on longer the notion of a "generation" in the context of "generational talent" stretches out

Harry Kane, Salah and many others: Am I a joke to you?!?!

Kane is the best of this 25-30 year old group

I truly believe that in alternate timelines, players like Bernardo Silva could have a team built around him and rise to a level similar to Messi. Dude is consistently great

Great vid! Arsene Wegner's quote about getting on the train sums it up perfectly for me... the game today suits athletes better than it does artists. Hope I get used to it

Interestingly you see exactly the same thing in elite level chess. There were no generational players born between 1993-2002. Theres a few theories as to why, maybe the shadow of Magnus Carlsen born in 1990 arguably the best player of all time, or maybe the lack of motivation because it was the age where computers overtook humans that they were growing up in, no firm answers though, very interesting.

Damn very interesting video .Covered a bunch of topics that would be considered Too Boring to make a video about , This is why I love this channel . Keep up the amazing work brother

i always think this. football always used to be dominated by grown men. AC Milan team of the early 2000s. untied in the mid 2000s etc.

People in these comments keep saying its because they were overshadowed by Messi and Ronaldo dominance but I disagree. Across the 2010s there were a lot of beloved players who were seen as era-defining: Luis Suarez, Iniesta, Xavi, Modric, Lewandowski, Neuer, Ibrahimovic are all names that the footballing public loves and respected in the same way they did legends like Henry or Van Basten and who most football fans would list off as iconic era-defining names. It's just that all of them except Neymar are 35 or older. There are very very good players even besides Neymar aged 25-35 like Griezmann, Kane, Salah, De Bruyne, Kroos, but none of them are arguably as iconic or legendary as names like Henry, Maldini or Kaka in the 2000s and Iniesta, Modric, Suarez in the 2010s

I live in Brazil and have always had a liking for youth football (among the highlights, I saw a 15 year old Phillipe Coutinho live at an U-15 South American tournament). My perception regarding South American talents is that they are being destroyed by going to Europe at 18. England is the worst, Spain is a bit better, but there are 3 main problems: 1- excess focus on strength. I saw an interview of Joao Pedro saying he won 9 kgs of muscle after going to England. He is never dribbling anyone again with the loss of agility that comes with it. Simply but - weight inevitably comes with losing of agility and acceleration. That is important to some players, but can be detrimental to many others. It depends on what their strengths are. 2- risk adverse coaching: positional play is very structured, and risk adverse. By adhering to that at such a young age, you inevitably stifle the development of creative players. 3- recruitment and training in South America is based on value to europe, as this is what generates money and funds the clubs here. So teams focus on atributes that are easier to sell, such as physicality, and you also start “training” them at a young age to be more disciplined. This focus on strength and structure is excellent to produce very capable footballers, but terrible at nurturing truly exceptional ones.

I definitely been about this for a while now. Great video and it was very well thought👍🏾

I've been waiting for such a video. Great players are so fre especially due to the point you made about their attributes being layered to be tailor made into a coaches image

Great video Alfie, I know you covered it, but I'd really like to see a focus on the failed gen between 25 and 30 specifically. Between Mbappe and Trent, and Kane and De Bryune, you have Rashford, Alli, Martial, Sanches, Meyer who've all fallen short so far. That could be for another video though.

It starts to make more sense with the view that the two primary assets of modern football are physicality and footballing intelligence. You end up with a group of young physically gifted great players and old intelligent great players with a gap in the middle where neither skill set is dominant. The players who were great as youngsters due to their physicality start to wain and the ones who will be great into their 30s aren’t quite there yet. It’s backed up by the exceptions to the trend, the great players who are currently in their late 20s or early 30s are pretty much all players who are intelligent beyond their years more so than they are physical marvels, Kane, Kimmich, Silva, Rodri being the prime examples.

Brilliant video mate, incredibly interesting topic and your lines of enquiry were spot on.

It’s because people are obsessed with stats nowadays, and not who actually plays better.

Fascinating subject! Coincidence or not that men's tennis has a very similar situation at the same time, except there are hardly any rising stars (except maybe the recent Carlos Alcaraz but he is not that consistent either). There are a number of skipped generations, depending on how many years "a generation" is. There's never been anything like the dominance of Federer, then together with Nadal, then joined by Djokovic. The younger players just don't have a chance and haven't had one for 15+ years. Why is that? Is there a similar pattern in other men's professional sports? (Yes, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray won a few grand slams each while Fed-Nadal-Djok were near their peak, but that's it. Compare any other era of tennis and see how many different winners there were.) Thanks very much for the video! 🙏 Edit: Clarity

There are. They just were always compared to Messi and Ronaldo, which is an unrealistic bar. Comparing Mbappe to Messi and Ronaldo is also a joke. I’d take Kane, Salah, Neymar, de bruyne over Mbappe personally. We were spoilt having Messi and Ronaldo at the same time at rival clubs.

Truly interesting & innovative topic! Class video bro!

Hi Harry. Really interesting video as always. Another point which stuck me, that’s kind of related to your point about players slightly younger than Messi or Ronaldo being overshadowed, but which I think bears its own merits, is around the media & commercial ecosystem that exists around those two. Lots of people, especially large sportswear companies and lower quality journalists & KZfaqrs than yourself, make a lot of money from milking the idea of the best footballer(s) in the world, in a way that I don’t think existed to anywhere near the same degree in previous eras and which has essentially grown up around Messi & Ronaldo. Eventually those people are going to have to milk their incomes from a different ‘best’, but that’s going to have to follow a period of transition from one best to the next which will be difficult to navigate and may be less profitable. Given Messi and Ronaldo’s longevity there’s been no incentive for these incredibly influential voices to argue that Neymar/Bale/Griezmann/Hazard/etc are actually the best in the world.

The amount of matches a footballer plays compared to before is also a thing to take into consideration, clubs play their best players almost til they drop and then just change them out. The game is much more competitive than before, tactics will get you further then having a bunch of stars in a team that doesn't have a great game plan. It's harder for a singel player to change matches consistently and properly stand out when the general level of the top, midtable and lower teams are much high than before. Just look at the top 8 in EPL, from Brighton, Newcastle, Man. Utd. and Villa are teams that you just can't leave out of the top 4 anymore. Before the big 4-5 where expected to trash almost every other team lower than themselves. I'm just saying it's harder for a top level for players to shine for a long time when all things are considered

I do think it comes down to messi and ronaldo longevity over shadowing othe players and the new players not coming from the biggest clubs Cuz the club you play for plays a massive part on how you are perceived And the amount of quality players is massive to the point were its hard to stand out Tho with haaland coming very close i think its sparked a new level if drive from the new boys Also ronaldo fans and theyre obsssesion with goals and stats as a bench mark for a quality player has really taken away the beauty in the simple things and joy of watching football

U making this video is why I started watching this channel

Great vid and I can totally see it. Wonder why myself lol

To be honest i think that the switching of the way the game is played is precisely why no players in zhr mentioned generation were able to succeed, whereas Messi and Ronaldo began their careers in an era in which you still could only be a goal machine and nothing else, but as time went on and the game started to change, they were already seen as world class and teams were made around them in spite of their "lackluster abilities in the modern game", but some other players like Quaresma, that would shine if the fame had continued to be played the way it once was, were cut out because the standards have changed and the demands were different. So this transitional period was one in which only the most adaptable footballers could accomplish, well, anything really, because the dynamic was begging to shift in favour of more industrious players. The new generation, though, grew up with the knowledge of the football that is played today and were, henceforth, directed in favour of accomplishing stellar results from a young age. This is my take on it.

27 is when most players are in their prime

Nice that you take on that topic. I’ve noticed that to

Id say these players in that age range of 27-33 were overshadowed by Messi and Ronaldo way too much. -I mean in their best seasons they were doing pretty close numbers to them. But alas they played in their prime, during Ronaldo and Messi’s prime.

Maybe you can look at other sports for similar patterns? For example tennis, which has had the 3 greats - Federer, Nadal and Djokovic - and nobody from the younger generation dethroning them.

Mo Salah and Virgil have something to say in this regard.

It’s because Messi and Ronaldo dominated their era. Without them, Neymar, salah, de bruyne, bale, hazard would all have a chance to become massive legends

Not only is there a bias towards attacking players, there's definitely a bias towards creativity. In an era of teams being micromanaged tactically, it's no wonder that we don't think of Salah or De Bruyne as being as talented as Cruyff or Zidane despite them having more goals and assists than the pair

There are plenty of world class players who are currently aged 25 to 35. But people need to realise that almost all players today are far more fitter, quicker and more athletic now, than they were 15 years ago. Also tactics have advanced during that period as well. Teams are not as open as they used to be and most dont leave big gaps of open space all over the pitch.

I hope the Gen Z generation is similar to the Gen X where we appreciate Footballers and not just have goat debates.

Next video idea: Why is Italy (renowned for it's defensive football) no longer producing world class defenders?

I renew my petition for you to include international subtitles for your videos. I volunteer for Spanish, but just having them would be great for me and my football loving non-English speaking family

"Mbappe, Haaland, bellingham and associates." No, it is mbappe and Haaland, and way below that we have Vini, Pedri, Bellingham, Musiala.

I really hope the bigger non-European leagues start holding on to their best talents a little longer. I don’t think the move to Europe at 18 or even younger actually does them good for developing. It’s mental difficult in addition to coming at a physically formative moment.

Video Idea: The expansion of the World Cup to include 48 teams. Obviously one might expect, that the motivations of FIFA are to have more games and thereby more revenue. However, I think it would be interesting to hear your take on whether the expansion is good or bad for the sport. On the positive side, it gives more countries, especially from Africa and Asia, who would not have had a chance to qualify, an opportunity to see their national team compete on the biggest stage. However, it raises concerns about competitiveness, player fatigue (with extra matches), and may take the excitement out of the qualifiers themselves (For instance 6 (potentially 7) out of the 10 south American teams will qualify).

Great video!

Video idea: What on earth is going on at Rosenborg? In the 90s the most dominant team in Europe. 13 straight titles, 8 straight UCL qualifications, on their day demolishing teams like Real Madrid and Dortmund. A club so dominant they sacked a coach after three straight league wins (two of them cup doubles) and UEL groups two of the three years. They were miles ahead everyone in Scandinavia. Now they are just a shadow of themselves closer to the relegation zone

Salah doesnt get the respect he deserves. And i can argue Allison is up there as well. But i guess young generational talent hype > experienced players

great video:)!

An important overlooked factor is the magnified role of the manager in modern football. The advent of analytics, video footage and large talent markets means that the manager is much more influential than before. Naturally, managers prefer players who will be willing to fit into a system they develop. This does diminish the role of the individual.

Messi and Ronaldo played 6-8 years longer than any of their predecessors, like you mentioned. If they had retired in their early 30s I think the likes of Neymar and Hazard would've stepped in for them and probably had more motivation to actually be the best in the world rather than moving to PSG and stopped looking over his physique after moving to Real Madrid.

I think players get overhyped too much these days but players of the past who had even better stats than Mbappe or Haaland at the same age never got the same recognition.

thanks for putting Fabio Quagliarella, one of the most underrated strikers only because he only played in Italy, but his goals are AMAZING

Rodri, Kane, Muller, Kroos, Oblak, list goes on. There are tons of great 25 - 35 year olds.

Griezmann, Salah, KDB, Son, and so many others laughing in the corner

Rodri probably is the best player in the world in terms of how much he would improve an average Champions League side if he were to join them. Bruno Fernandes, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva have all performed at best-in-the-world levels and van Dijk and Kimmich have been world class for years. That said there does seem to be a bit more world class talent in the 20-25 age group than the 25-30 one.

There is a generaational divide in how greatness is defined. Old School football fans value WORLD CUP PERFORMANCE, BIG GAME PERFORMANCE, TECHNICAL & INDIVIDUAL ABILITY Modern fans value STATS, LONGEVITY, TROPHIES AND INDIVIDUAL AWARDS WON

Lost generation. Young enough to get into social media/twitch/youtube/onlyfans/minecraft culture fully, too old to figure out how to control and ultimately reject the addictive scrolling and similar tricks the corporations and creators use to keep them there in favour of developing their own life.

There are plenty of good footballers between ages on 25 and 35. Kane, Militao, De Bruyne, Martinez, Valverde, Rodri, de Jong, Silva, Fernandes, Grealish etc.

That's a very good point. I've been watching the highlights of 4 leagues lately - EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A. All four are disappointingly similar. There are some terrific exceptions, but the majority of goals are scored in three basic ways. 1) A long incisive pass down the middle where the striker outruns the defenders chasing the ball. 2) A long hoof along the wing where the winger outruns the fullbacks and serves the ball 2-3 metres from the goal line. 3) A long curling ball by a midfielder just outside the corner of the box, into the opposite corner of the goal. Which basically means you need players who can run really fast, and players who can make a little space and curl the ball. That's it, that's the game now.

Our generation really got screwed by the Ronaldo-Messi Rivalry 😭 we’re really in that awkward “in between” spot

i think part of the problem is how Real Madrid and Barcelona accuumulated a lot of talent for more than a decade, a lot of generational talents like Modric, Benzema, Xavi, Iniesta etc... didn't get as much of a spotlight because they were "Ronaldo/Messi team mates" i also think media narrative influence judgement a lot on this kind of topics, a lot of great players didn't get exalted as much because they just didn't sell as much as Ronaldo or Messi, names like Muller, or De Bruyne ps. i Hope you somehow forgot about him, but Ibrahimovic not being on your list could make your whole point invalid

Video on why South Africa isn't as successful in football despite being in a good position to be great. Also a video about the African Football League AKA African Super League would be really appreciated.

Personally I think their have been great players. Xavi , Iniesta , Neymar and others but were unlucky to in an area of two phenoms

It is quite an anomaly now that you bring it up

There is a good comparison here with tennis. The big three (Federer, Nadal, Djoko) were all able to stay fit into their mid-thirties and hold off the following generation. The current crop of contenders generally seem to be in their early twenties (Alcaraz, Sinner etc.), effectively skipping a generation.

pre-video prediction, there are but they've lived in the shadow of Messi/Ronaldo.

Both Ederson and Allison are generational keepers same with Nuer even if he is a bit older, its almost like the 2 best attacking players have been the same for 2 decades and thats why. If we gave proper credit for defense and that side of the ball then it woupd be completely different. Even bringing up the Rodri argument he is the DM of like all time but yeah he doesn't play in the final 3rd so he must be garbage.

This video is a masterpiece

I've had a similar thought when i searched for world class strikers in their mid-20s for my Barcelona career mode and the only ones i found were Lautaro Martinez and Victor Osimhen

#thepeopleschannel a video on the Bangladesh premier league and the rise of Bashundhara kings would be good A team who went into the top flight after promotion and won the last four league titles now! Are they the next Newcastle? Are they a team to keep a eye on next few years? Thanks Alfie 😊

Just spit-balling, but maybe there's a lost generation born between 1993-1997 say, that just didn't play outside, and were also not benefit to the modern technical coaching that the new generation is. You've seen the same in Tennis, with Djokovic Federer, Nadal etc. Also in Cricket, with no England players under 30 in recent games.

As a 36 year old myself, I'm afraid I can't help.

It would be good to make a video on why dribbling and Skills are non existent in todays game.

Antoine Griezmann literally exists

Dont you think the Caso Negreira hurts messi's legacy? From 2000 to 2018 it appears that Barça fixed matches

Did no one in these comments watch the video? After looking at more of the comments, if they did, they clearly didn't pay much attention or listen to what he was actually saying.

Kane, Lewandowski, Van Dijk, Kimich, De Bruyne, Kroos, Muller, Courtois, Salah,. At least 3 of these should have a ballon d'or

As always you are brilliant with your videos xx ❤Messi has the greatest football brain, always has❤

If the thesis is true (personally I don't think so), before watching the video, I'll say that the reason we don't consider anyone as great as Messi, both Ronaldos etc. is because we have been too focused on the 2 goats who have been blessing us with their talent to this day. And not many players could have developed in the shadows of the two greats in la liga, arguably the best league 10-15 years ago. That is why we got good players in other, then less prestigious, leagues like Kane in England, Lewandowski in Germany and let's say Dybala on Italy.

when you plot the 'generational' players you are forgetting all the great players that did not go to europe that played in the south american leagues during the 20th century. When these players played against their european counterparts in the intercontinental cup they more often than not won that cup.

Nowadays a lot give up on the dream when realizing how difficult it is to be a pro let alone world class

There is a lot. Media just focused in Messi and Ronaldo. But Van Dijk deserved 2019, Lewa 2020-2021, Neymar 2015, Ribery 2013, Neuer 2014, Sneijder 2010, Xavi 2011….

Luka Modric, harry kane, hazard, bale are all very decent they are not the best but they are good. I see what you mean though 👍 good vid BTW.

Griezmann for a time was one of the best. Also Coutinho, Neymar, Dybala, Pogba. The problem is consistency

Its the 80s. Not just in football but also in basketball (Lebron, Durant, Curry all born in the 80s), tennis (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic all born in the 80s) so many great athletes are born in that decade compared to the following decade. Must be the music