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Brazil legend Pele: Neymar is more complete than Barcelona's Lionel Messi, and can be better than me
The 71-year-old icon feels that the Santos attacker can mature to become greater than he was at his pinnacle, and is a more rounded player than the current Ballon d'Or holder
By Gareth McKnight
The 71-year-old, regarded by many as the greatest footballer to have played the game, has been full of praise for the young striker ever since he burst onto the scene two years ago, and feels that the 19-year-old, given the time to mature, can surpass his abilities.
"Although we cannot talk of him as an heir because each player is different, Neymar has the ability to be better than me," Pele told Mundo Deportivo.
The striker will be a key player for the Vila Belmiro outfit in the Club World Cup later in December, where he could face the Champions League winners and the current Ballon d'Or holder Messi.
Despite the personal and team accolades that the Argentina international has achieved so far in his career, Pele feels that his countryman is more complete as a player, but that the Camp Nou attacker has more experience.
"For me the two are technically very good, but Neymar is more complete because he shoots with both feet, and dribbles from both sides," the iconic former Santos forward explained.
"The one thing that lets both down is their heading.
"Messi has more experience for me. He is a more mature player, who has played big games in Europe, and that makes a difference.
"Neymar has only two years at senior level but is already an excellent player," he concluded.
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"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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