Kid has the “potential” of reaching that level, not saying he would though. How often do you see 18/19 year old winger carrying his team attack at times in toughest league of the world?
You bunched a number of players - as listed in my first post - who range from literal greatest wingers of all time tier, to PL greats who themselves are tiers above very good current players. You either think Garnacho is an
exceptional talent, or you’ve massively overshot your mark.
The way people are talking about Giggs, they either didn’t see him as a teenager or have forgotten how good he was. The
moment he debuted, it was clear he was one of the fastest, most agile, explosive and outright best dribblers in the league with world class traits that needed to be proven as fact, but by the eye test, he was at a level beyond even experienced top players to the extent he was being talked about as Best’s successor. His talent was in a different stratosphere to everyone you listed in terms of prodigious teen; Garnacho doesn’t
even register on that scale as a starting point. That is no slight on him; Giggs was just
that good.
Robben too was an outstanding talent and basically the players bolded were predestined to be the best of the best of their time, at least, and if health and mentality permitted, to enter all-time scaling like they all did. If Garnacho is setting off as a 600/10000 then Giggs was an 800/1000 and the other 770/1000 or something similar with all of them going over 900/1000 at their peaks, hence being all-timers. The numbers are arbitrary, but the representation of the gulf is not.
It’s rare wingers wildly level up in their 20’s like other positions do, more they hone and refine what they have and their brains catch up to their skills and ability - there are more great wingers at young ages than any other position because of what their job entails and how little interaction they have to have with others to be outstanding - wingers also rely on their physical advantages, so you get the best of most of them before the usual breakdown of their bodies as the hamstrings and various muscle strains curtail them. Mostly, their curve is early and the time at the top relatively short compared to other positions.
In accordance with the above, Giggs, Robben and Nedved (sliding scale) not only shone young, they remained elite into their 30’s and overcame injuries and physical decline to basically rubber stamp their all-time standing. There are very few occasions when breakthrough teens or even youngsters doing well have any crossover with that calibre: ‘the new: Giggs/Robben/Nedved’ brings astronomical levels of pressure and expectation. The same can be said of all the wingers you mentioned to varying degree; certainly not names you conjure up without very good reason.
As I said, if that’s what you believe Garnacho’s ability indicates to you, OK, but if you’re just pulling names out of a hat not really grasping the levels you’re evoking by doing so, then it’s something else. Personally from where Garnacho is and the ability he appears to have, the bolded this post:
Agreed. People throw out the big names casually as if those aren’t generational PL players. There is a big gap between tier 1 PL wide players and those in the two tiers below.
Garnacho would have a hell of a career if he turned out to be on the level of Pedro, Ljungberg, Nani, Nasri, Joe Cole, Valencia, Malouda, Reyes Shaun Wright Phillips etc. Even that is a long shot so it seems crazy to me putting his potential up with those that were generational PL stars.
Would be a really impressive level for him to get to, let alone talking about the lower rungs on your own list. Categorically, he is never going to be in keeping with Giggs, Robben, Nedved and highly unlikely Bale, either. Would be delighted to proven wrong 10 years down the line, but wingers don’t tend to take epic leaps like you see from other positions, or certainly not with the frequency.