Joao Felix | Signed for Atlético Madrid

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He's better than Sancho IMO. Just as talented, if not more, whilst also being a more intelligent player. The maturity in his game is very impressive for his age.
 
Good summation @In Rainbows

He's a big risk at his age for such a fee, same as Sancho would be, but Felix slots into that false 9 role in the diamond really well which makes sense as that system suits us much better with the type of strikers we have, rather than buying the Caf's RW obssession to play a formation we don't have the personnel for.
 
Womp said:
He's better than Sancho IMO. Just as talented, if not more, whilst also being a more intelligent player. The maturity in his game is very impressive for his age.
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Not sure you can say that based on what they've done this season. Sancho's season was more impressive as he did it in a tougher league, at a younger age. Even ignoring that, Sancho has the dribbling ability that Felix has yet to show. I feel like that's the big separator as of now. It's possible Felix becomes a dribbler like Adnan has.
 
In Rainbows said:
Not sure you can say that based on what they've done this season. Sancho's season was more impressive as he did it in a tougher league, at a younger age. Even ignoring that, Sancho has the dribbling ability that Felix has yet to show. I feel like that's the big separator as of now. It's possible Felix becomes a dribbler like Adnan has.
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Felix’s game isn’t all about dribbling, he isn’t a winger.
 
This kid is not ready for a team like Man United IMO.

Hes not fast, so doesnt bother running in behind. Instead he likes to receive the ball to feet and looks for runners and one twos. He doesnt take on players that often either. His understanding of space and how to link with players is his greatest strength. If we buy him and play him at the no. 10 position which is probably the toughest position in attack, we would be relying on a 19 yr old to be the glue that binds the attacking play together. This is a very foolish idea IMO and is bound to fail.

He would do really very well in a functional team as a false forward eg. he would fit perfectly at City and Liverpool. I dont think he fits in our team. we need know how and experience at no. 10. If we have to splash 100+ mil it should be on Griezmann who can do the same role much much better at the moment. Obv convincing him to come here is another story.
 
Jake said:
Felix’s game isn’t all about dribbling, he isn’t a winger.
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I know. That's exactly what I said. I just mentioned that Sancho has an extra tool with his dribbling. Felix probably will have or does have better vision, but players like Sancho compensate for that with their dribbling, hence why the assist numbers were in Sancho's favor.
 
Vanya said:
This kid is not ready for a team like Man United IMO.

Hes not fast, so doesnt bother running in behind. Instead he likes to receive the ball to feet and looks for runners and one twos. He doesnt take on players that often either. His understanding of space and how to link with players is his greatest strength. If we buy him and play him at the no. 10 position which is probably the toughest position in attack, we would be relying on a 19 yr old to be the glue that binds the attacking play together. This is a very foolish idea IMO and is bound to fail.

He would do really very well in a functional team as a false forward eg. he would fit perfectly at City and Liverpool. I dont think he fits in our team. we need know how and experience at no. 10. If we have to splash 100+ mil it should be on Griezmann who can do the same role much much better at the moment. Obv convincing him to come here is another story.
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If Ole is going to modernise our attacking play and play with a false 9, Felix would be the best player out there to buy. If we don’t someone else will snap him up this season or next and have potentially one of the best false 9’s you can buy.
 
In Rainbows said:
I didn't mean he was explosive like Ronaldo was. They're two different types of players. I just meant that they were still raw and weren't close to world class like Mbappe, Messi, de Ligt, etc... are at their age. You could even classify Sancho as close to that as he did it in a top league. Can't say the same about Ronaldo or Felix. Meaning that they had obvious talent, so they could still flop or actually become world class. Of course, Ronaldo was pretty much at that level when he was 20-21 years old.
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Yeah but that's the point. If you are more raw and aren't really as good at that young age, there's no guarantee you'll eventually be. Not everybody's game comes together in the most ideal manner. If Sancho appears more talented and more complete there's a good chance that he actually may be a much bigger talent. Could work out the other way the other way too of course.
 
Vanya said:
This kid is not ready for a team like Man United IMO.

Hes not fast, so doesnt bother running in behind. Instead he likes to receive the ball to feet and looks for runners and one twos. He doesnt take on players that often either. His understanding of space and how to link with players is his greatest strength. If we buy him and play him at the no. 10 position which is probably the toughest position in attack, we would be relying on a 19 yr old to be the glue that binds the attacking play together. This is a very foolish idea IMO and is bound to fail.

He would do really very well in a functional team as a false forward eg. he would fit perfectly at City and Liverpool. I dont think he fits in our team. we need know how and experience at no. 10. If we have to splash 100+ mil it should be on Griezmann who can do the same role much much better at the moment. Obv convincing him to come here is another story.
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This so why Martial should be our false 9. Martial plays exactly the way you described how felix plays.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Yeah but that's the point. If you are more raw and aren't really as good at that young age, there's no guarantee you'll eventually be. Not everybody's game comes together in the most ideal manner. If Sancho appears more talented and more complete there's a good chance that he actually may be a much bigger talent. Could work out the other way the other way too of course.
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I know. That's what I believe too.
 
Jake said:
If Ole is going to modernise our attacking play and play with a false 9, Felix would be the best player out there to buy. If we don’t someone else will snap him up this season or next and have potentially one of the best false 9’s you can buy.
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That's a big statement based on a few months of the season in a very average league. No one knows how Felix is going to develop yet. If we label him the "the best false 9 we can buy" and the guy who will help "modernise our attack" I think it's a bit far fetched.

I guess time will tell.
 
Don't know much about this lad but from what I've read, couldn't Gomes offer something similar? I think we all accept there's going to be no easy fix so shouldn't we be giving some of our young talent a chance. Never understand why we covet other people's young talent yet don't play our own enough?
 
Litch said:
Don't know much about this lad but from what I've read, couldn't Gomes offer something similar? I think we all accept there's going to be no easy fix so shouldn't we be giving some of our young talent a chance. Never understand why we covet other people's young talent yet don't play our own enough?
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Think Gomes is more suited to being a regular midfielder. I don't see Gomes as a consistent attacker, trying to make things happen. He's not the goal threat Felix is, though likely has more vision. I'm keen on Gomes being groomed for the Scholes role.
 
Jake said:
If Ole is going to modernise our attacking play and play with a false 9, Felix would be the best player out there to buy. If we don’t someone else will snap him up this season or next and have potentially one of the best false 9’s you can buy.
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Felix would be better behind the striker/s

If we buy Felix for 100m, I can't see Ole signing a top RW. I hope we don't play Lingard/Mata as right wingers if we decide to use Felix as false 9 in a 433.
 
People need to wake up and stop living in cloud cuckoo land, This kid is only 19 years old who not even played 30 matches.

He playing in an inferior league to the EPL, And some reason has a 105M price tag. Our record for buying the next big thing from Portuguese clubs is awful, apart from Ronaldo the rest have been flops

Our Brazilian purchasers have been even worse with every single player leaving the club. Plus, no way in hell would we be spending that kind of money on a 19-year-old. The paper just loves to make up 99.99% of their stories to sell newspapers.

Last season they told us we spend about 200-250M on new player. But in the end, we ended up only spending about 70M and selling about 20M worth of player, Our net spend was about 50M.

This summer they say we going to sign 6 new players, They way this is going we be luck to even sing 2 new players never mind 6 like the newspapers are reporting.

It’s time to face facts until the Glazers go, we never going to get back to where we need to be. We have a massive debts the whips out our profits. And they taken further money out of the club to feed them self with their dividend’s payments.
 
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Vanya said:
That's a big statement based on a few months of the season in a very average league. No one knows how Felix is going to develop yet. If we label him the "the best false 9 we can buy" and the guy who will help "modernise our attack" I think it's a bit far fetched.

I guess time will tell.
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Well he plays in a position which would help to modernise our attack. We were playing Lingard as a false 9 for a bit, and Felix is better than Lingard in that position.

And I didn’t label him the ‘best false 9 we can buy’ as in now, I meant if we don’t snap him up this season, in a couple of years he could be and we would regret it.

I’m a fan of his obviously, think there is something special about him. Albeit that he plays in a weaker league etc. but I think he’d be an exciting signing.
 
We need to see him perform at a higher level before we think of chucking £100m Benfica's way.
 
In Rainbows said:
Think Gomes is more suited to being a regular midfielder. I don't see Gomes as a consistent attacker, trying to make things happen. He's not the goal threat Felix is, though likely has more vision. I'm keen on Gomes being groomed for the Scholes role.
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Gomes stature is far to lightweight in how we play our midfield. If he was in a sky blue suit, that's a different matter but in the PL, he'd be run over. Scholes was a special player that had everything, Gomes for me is more like a young Mata. No doubt Felix is a talent but I'd argue if CR came to this team at as 18, he'd never go on to be the player he was here. He came to a successful team with WC talent and thus allowed him to develop. My issue with theses type of players being signed is the club at the moment is the polar opposite. Not saying we need older players, just ones that are more ready for the challenge. I'd sooner use 100m on Sancho.
 
Litch said:
Gomes stature is far to lightweight in how we play our midfield. If he was in a sky blue suit, that's a different matter but in the PL, he'd be run over. Scholes was a special player that had everything, Gomes for me is more like a young Mata. No doubt Felix is a talent but I'd argue if CR came to this team at as 18, he'd never go on to be the player he was here. He came to a successful team with WC talent and thus allowed him to develop. My issue with theses type of players being signed is the club at the moment is the polar opposite. Not saying we need older players, just ones that are more ready for the challenge. I'd sooner use 100m on Sancho.
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I just disagree. Being lightweight has nothing to do with how that type of midfielder plays and there is no set style for midfielder we want, so long as the midfield is complete. Assuming that Pogba is the permanent fixture of the midfield, it means we need someone who can dominate the game through their passing, a bit of energy, and someone that can help defend. Defending with energy is his weakpoint, and he provides a helping role in all areas apart from his main role of creating chances.

Important to realize that there is no rigid template for which two midfielders should complete the midfield. It is not required that we follow the Juve model where Vidal was the high energy player and Pirlo was the slower, but passing maestro. All that matters is that the midfield is complete and provides all things the team needs. That is the ability to pass, create, defend, and being the safest players to retain possession. Juve's midfield accomplished that with the attributes those players had. They complimented one another.

Last season we made best of what we had, and Herrera was a good fit due to having Matic right next to him. If the DM was faster than Matic, Herrera's type of midfielder would no longer be needed. Can't have two midfielders as slow as Matic and Pogba on defense just like you can't have two players as slow as Pogba and Pirlo in defense. Therefore, Vidal and Herrera were great compliments. Besides, that United midfield was not complete either way as we still didn't have someone who could dominate through their passing ability and a player that is press resistant. Matic didn't have that passing ability like Carrick. And neither Matic, nor Herrera were elite defensively.

A hypothetical: If Modric were to come to United, we would now only need 1 more component in midfield. That is someone like Casemiro. A player like Kante or Ndidi would not be required because Modric is not slow like Pirlo or older Carrick were. Of course, there would be nothing wrong with that type either as it would still mean the midfield is press resistant, can control the match through passing, able to create, and able to defend.

If Gomes can develop into that special type of midfielder (Scholes, Xavi, Modric), then we would have the ideal midfielder. As great as Carrick was, when I think of the best midfielders, I think back to Scholes, Xavi, and recently, Modric. One could argue Verratti was there before he asked for a move away from PSG. Those midfielders are press resistant because their technique is at a gold standard, and they're great at 1 touch passing. Those midfielders can also aid the attack with their vision when needed. Defending is their worse attribute if you were required to think of one. *The one midfielder I would say challenged that was Vidal because of how much end product he had, while at the same time providing the insane energy on both sides of the pitch.

So I just don't agree with you. What will stop Gomes is not his size, but his brain and technical ability. And at his age, he has yet to prove he doesn't have the talent to try and groom him for the role.
 
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Adnan said:
We need to see him perform at a higher level before we think of chucking £100m Benfica's way.
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The thing is by the time he performs at a higher level he'll be at a club from where we can't sign him. At Benfica he's not gonna have that much opportunities to play elite opposition, 6 games in the CL most likely and that's that. And if/when he moves to a bigger club it'll be nigh on impossible to sign him unless he flops there. So while I agree it's a massive risk to sign him for that amount of money, if we want the player, it's pretty much a risk we'll have to take either this summer or next.
 
When there was a best player available, we were in the front of the Q and players were desperate to come to UTD in the past but now tables have turned....We must accept that and try to get back to our best again ..Until then it will be city beating us for best players
 
In Rainbows said:
I just disagree. Being lightweight has nothing to do with how that type of midfielder plays and there is no set style for midfielder we want, so long as the midfield is complete. Assuming that Pogba is the permanent fixture of the midfield, it means we need someone who can dominate the game through their passing, a bit of energy, and someone that can help defend. Defending with energy is his weakpoint, and he provides a helping role in all areas apart from his main role of creating chances.

Important to realize that there is no rigid template for which two midfielders should complete the midfield. It is not required that we follow the Juve model where Vidal was the high energy player and Pirlo was the slower, but passing maestro. All that matters is that the midfield is complete and provides all things the team needs. That is the ability to pass, create, defend, and being the safest players to retain possession. Juve's midfield accomplished that with the attributes those players had. They complimented one another.

Last season we made best of what we had, and Herrera was a good fit due to having Matic right next to him. If the DM was faster than Matic, Herrera's type of midfielder would no longer be needed. Can't have two midfielders as slow as Matic and Pogba on defense just like you can't have two players as slow as Pogba and Pirlo in defense. Therefore, Vidal and Herrera were great compliments. Besides, that United midfield was not complete either way as we still didn't have someone who could dominate through their passing ability and a player that is press resistant. Matic didn't have that passing ability like Carrick. And neither Matic, nor Herrera were elite defensively.

A hypothetical: If Modric were to come to United, we would now only need 1 more component in midfield. That is someone like Casemiro. A player like Kante or Ndidi would not be required because Modric is not slow like Pirlo or older Carrick were. Of course, there would be nothing wrong with that type either as it would still mean the midfield is press resistant, can control the match through passing, able to create, and able to defend.

If Gomes can develop into that special type of midfielder (Scholes, Xavi, Modric), then we would have the ideal midfielder. As great as Carrick was, when I think of the best midfielders, I think back to Scholes, Xavi, and recently, Modric. One could argue Verratti was there before he asked for a move away from PSG. Those midfielders are press resistant because their technique is at a gold standard, and they're great at 1 touch passing. Those midfielders can also aid the attack with their vision when needed. Defending is their worse attribute if you were required to think of one. *The one midfielder I would say challenged that was Vidal because of how much end product he had, while at the same time providing the insane energy on both sides of the pitch.

So I just don't agree with you. What will stop Gomes is not his size, but his brain and technical ability. And at his age, he has yet to prove he doesn't have the talent to try and groom him for the role.
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For me quite simply and especially in the PL, if you are small and playing in the top tier and playing in midfield, you have to be exceptionally talented and that's why all the players you make reference to are. You are talking about players that would cost 100m when they were at their best. You are also talking about players that at their best played in the best teams in the world with the best players. Even still, I'm not talking about small players, like I said in this instance I'm talking about Gomes. There are some small players that play that way and there are others who's stature (which isn't about physicality) play in a way that you forget how small they are like Scholes. Gomes plays like a small player and is no way suited for a league that basically only one team doesn't need to a degree of size in midfield to win football games. His talent is further up the pitch where it matters less. You can't make reference to the best footballers to every have played, to make an argument for a young lad here who's played an handful of games from the bench, none of which was in midfield.

Joking aside, it would help if they actually got him a shirt that fits him....
 
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Rozay said:
I agree with this. There are certain ‘intangibles’ he seems to have to his game. But then again, majority of the world’s top players have those intangibles plus at least one of the more obvious traits.

I have nothing against the kid, but if he, for arguments sake, became as good as say Firmino, it would be no footballing travesty, which is my point. Firmino is a good, clever forward, can play a few roles, without being outstanding at anything per se. I don’t see many traits from Felix that I can say Firmino doesn’t have. And if Firmino cost £105m, it would be daylight robbery. There are Firmino level players you can still look at and be disappointed because when they were young they were showing certain extreme qualities. With Felix, if he became a new Firmino, or even a Cavani-level of player, he would have done well based on the player I see today, and achieved his potential to me. However, people seem to be projecting him far higher than that, and that for me, is with little basis at the moment.

Carlos Tevez is another example. He was the latest ‘new Maradona’ when he emerged in Argentina. He actually fulfilled his potential and went on to have a very good career. Maradona, he was not though. Not even close. This is how I see Felix at present. Just the usual Benfica president and Portuguese press trying to sell the world a dream.
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Felix is a forward, not a no 10. I actually feel he's gonna become a pure striker like Aguero who started as a SS. And yes, forward are pricey nowdays. Lukaku cost us 90mil despite his limited technique, Jovic's price has escalated to 100mil despite the fact that he does nothing else apart from scoring.

Felix on the other hand is much more than a striker. He's intelligent on the ball and has got terrific vision and linkup play to go with his finishing. He's got fantastic techiques on the ball and is capable of making a tactical dribble whenever the situation arises and also, he's two footed and he's a threat in the air.. I will go back to his finishing and from what I've seen from him, he's capable of striking the ball while it's still in mid air, similar to Zlatan's style due to their terrific technique whereas our forwards prefer to have the ball under control first before striking it, and that gives the opposition enough time to move the ball away.

However, he's not a battering ram like Zlatan because he's got a tiny build due to his young age however he's likely to become one with his tall frame as his body eventually fills out.
 
Kaglish10 said:
Felix is a forward, not a no 10. I actually feel he's gonna become a pure striker like Aguero who started as a SS. And yes, forward are pricey nowdays. Lukaku cost us 90mil despite his limited technique, Jovic's price has escalated to 100mil despite the fact that he does nothing else apart from scoring.

Felix on the other hand is much more than a striker. He's intelligent on the ball and has got terrific vision and linkup play to go with his finishing. He's got fantastic techiques on the ball and is capable of making a tactical dribble whenever the situation arises and also, he's two footed and he's a threat in the air.. I will go back to his finishing and from what I've seen from him, he's capable of striking the ball while it's still in mid air, similar to Zlatan's style due to their terrific technique whereas our forwards prefer to have the ball under control first before striking it, and that gives the opposition enough time to move the ball away.

However, he's not a battering ram like Zlatan because he's got a tiny build due to his young age however he's likely to become one with his tall frame as his body eventually fills out.
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I know what type of player he is. I’m less sure of what level of talent he is. I’m currently in the camp of ‘very good’, whilst others are in the camp of ‘once in a generation’. That’s not what I’ve seen.
 
Forget it, he's not coming here, don't think he leave Benfica. A lot of this his buy out clauses are this are that. Paper talk agent plugging, throwing out the line to see who bites.

He's not the only player there doing it with.
 
Rozay said:
I know what type of player he is. I’m less sure of what level of talent he is. I’m currently in the camp of ‘very good’, whilst others are in the camp of ‘once in a generation’. That’s not what I’ve seen.
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I feel he's a generation talent. He's got Zlatan's vibe. What stopped Zlatan was his poor finishing. If not, he had the talents to go toe to toe with Messi and Ronaldo. Besides, it was his wonderful performance as a false 9 for Barca that got Messi jealous into insisting he would like to play the false 9 role while Zlatan got moved to the wing. Zlatan also started at a very young age.

Only a talent like Felix could come in into an underperforming Benfica team in 4th position and surged them to the first position while being their best player and talisman in the process.
 
Kaglish10 said:
However, he's not a battering ram like Zlatan because he's got a tiny build due to his young age however he's likely to become one with his tall frame as his body eventually fills out.
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I dont get where the Idea he is strong in the air comes from. He is 5'11 at best which is far from a tall frame let alone for a striker in the PL. I can bet my 2c that he will never become a pure striker as it's just not part of his game to receive the ball and face defenders centraly. He is good finding pockets of space drifting wide to link up with other attackers and sometines appear behind the defence in open space. Forget about him battling with any sort of centrebacks for the ball.
 
Kaglish10 said:
I feel he's a generation talent. He's got Zlatan's vibe. What stopped Zlatan was his poor finishing. If not, he had the talents to go toe to toe with Messi and Ronaldo. Besides, it was his wonderful performance as a false 9 for Barca that got Messi jealous into insisting he would like to play the false 9 role while Zlatan got moved to the wing. Zlatan also started at a very young age.

Only a talent like Felix could come in into an underperforming Benfica team in 4th position and surged them to the first position while being their best player and talisman in the process.
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Not for me. And Zlatan was a long long way from Messi and Ronaldo.
 
broccoli said:
I dont get where the Idea he is strong in the air comes from. He is 5'11 at best which is far from a tall frame let alone for a striker in the PL. I can bet my 2c that he will never become a pure striker as it's just not part of his game to receive the ball and face defenders centraly. He is good finding pockets of space drifting wide to link up with other attackers and sometines appear behind the defence in open space. Forget about him battling with any sort of centrebacks for the ball.
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Common, he's scored plenty of goals with his head and he wasn't in open space while doing it but going physical on the defenders. Even his headed assist against Frankfurt was tough.

Like I said, he's not a battering ram. Yet. But he's taller than Aguero for example.
 
Jake said:
Well he plays in a position which would help to modernise our attack. We were playing Lingard as a false 9 for a bit, and Felix is better than Lingard in that position.

And I didn’t label him the ‘best false 9 we can buy’ as in now, I meant if we don’t snap him up this season, in a couple of years he could be and we would regret it.

I’m a fan of his obviously, think there is something special about him. Albeit that he plays in a weaker league etc. but I think he’d be an exciting signing.
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"he could be" is not a very strong statement. I don't think we should spend 100+ mil on a "could be" signing. He's not an obvious talent like Mbappe, Sancho, Dembele or de Ligt.

If we are willing to wager our next 3-4 seasons on the "potential" development of one player then sure we can sign him and hope for the best. OR else we could sign some player in the age group 23-28 who is about to reach his prime or is already in it and reap the immediate benefits of that.)(like Liverpool did with Mane and Salah and city with Bernardo)
 
Rozay said:
Not for me. And Zlatan was a long long way from Messi and Ronaldo.
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Zlatan's achilles was his finishing. He was much more than a striker. If he was clinical and had got same goal scoring stat as Ronaldo and Messi, no one would stop him. Even Griezmann who's not as good as Zlatan in his prime is being heralded because of his goal scoring stat.
 
If the club think he's that good and have the funds, they should go for it. Waiting an extra year gives other clubs time to prepare funds to buy him. For instanxe if PSG had waited a year for Mbappe, he'd probably be a Madrid player by now.
 
Adisa said:
If the club think he's that good and have the funds, they should go for it. Waiting an extra year gives other clubs time to prepare funds to buy him. For instanxe if PSG had waited a year for Mbappe, he'd probably be a Madrid player by now.
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Mbappe was performing for Les Bleus and in the Champions league for Monaco tbf.
 
Kaglish10 said:
Zlatan's achilles was his finishing. He was much more than a striker. If he was clinical and had got same goal scoring stat as Ronaldo and Messi, no one would stop him. Even Griezmann who's not as good as Zlatan in his prime is being heralded because of his goal scoring stat.
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Griezmann is not heralded as anywhere near Messi and Ronaldo class. And Zlatan was a forward. The ‘if he was clinical’ bit is quite a big if. But I would personally opine that you have bought into the fanfare of the player, and causes me to believe even more than you are doing similar with Felix.

Finishing aside, ‘more than a striker’ aside, Zlatan’s other parts of his games were also miles away from Messi and Ronaldo. His playmaking ability was nowhere close to Messi’s, and his dribbling ability was nowhere close to either of them. For a giant of a man that he is, he is also nowhere near as good in the air as Ronaldo.
 
Adnan said:
Mbappe was performing for Les Bleus and in the Champions league for Monaco tbf.
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I know. The point I'm trying to make is PSG took a gamble. Many people still thought they needed to wait abother year to see his true level. I remember his thread very well.
If Felix has another year like this one, we will be regretting giving others a chance to sign him. If we have the money now and we are convibced of his quality, do it now.
 
Adisa said:
I know. The point I'm trying to make is PSG took a gamble. Many people still thought they needed to wait abother year to see his true level. I remember his thread very well.
If Felix has another year like this one, we will be regretting giving others a chance to sign him. If we have the money now and we are convibced of his quality, do it now.
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I agree. You have to take a risk and it's up to scouts to do do their job and try to predict. We also missed out Hazard who not proven in EPL and we know the story. The list of young talenten players we were afraid to sign and regretted is too long.
 
Adisa said:
I know. The point I'm trying to make is PSG took a gamble. Many people still thought they needed to wait abother year to see his true level. I remember his thread very well.
If Felix has another year like this one, we will be regretting giving others a chance to sign him. If we have the money now and we are convibced of his quality, do it now.
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Not one top team wanted to give it another year. They all wanted him that summer, as it was clear that was his true level. He was like nothing we’d seen for 20 years. Felix is not that.
 
Rozay said:
Griezmann is not heralded as anywhere near Messi and Ronaldo class. And Zlatan was a forward. The ‘if he was clinical’ bit is quite a big if. But I would personally opine that you have bought into the fanfare of the player, and causes me to believe even more than you are doing similar with Felix.

Finishing aside, ‘more than a striker’ aside, Zlatan’s other parts of his games were also miles away from Messi and Ronaldo. His playmaking ability was nowhere close to Messi’s, and his dribbling ability was nowhere close to either of them. For a giant of a man that he is, he is also nowhere near as good in the air as Ronaldo.
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Griezmann was close to getting the balloon dor. If France had won the Euros, he would have got it.

That said, Zlatan's vision was really good, even as good as that of Messi. He was used mostly as a pure striker while he was with us but he's got terrific vision on him. In fact, it was his playmaking style that endeared him to Barca fans in his earlier start with them and got on Messi's nerves who probably thought Zlatan wanted to upstage him as the main man because fans were constantly hollering Zlatan's name in every match until the fall out which was because he was moved to the wing to accommodate Messi in the central role. His dribbling wasn't as good as that of Messi but so are many players. You're quite right about the fact that he didn't make use of his heading ability enough unlike Cristiano but Zlatan was more physical on the ball and very hard to dispossess unlike Cristiano. His hold up play was really quality.
 
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