Was he ever the best player on the planet? Loads of tricks but never the best player, Zidane and Henry were better players when Ronaldinho was peaking.
Blackburn have been constantly linked with him too since the current owners came in a couple of years ago.
Remember seeing his tricks week in week out for barca and thought he was the most skilful player and talented lad that ever walked onto a pitch then messi appeared and set the football scene on fire. A missed the likes of maradona and pele and other such players but from what I've seen messi will take some licking for a very long time!
I missed one like that once for Kirk Balk against rubbish Wombwell High away. I hit it sweet enough but only after it took a wicked bobble on the cow field they called a pitch. Even I could not adjust my stance fast enough and it hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced on the line and off the big arse of their unwitting, over-weight right back and out for a corner. Some say it was over the line, I dunno - but it was generally agreed that if it had gone in, it would have meant I would have technically mis-hit the ball which, of course, could never happen. Needless to say, despite all the elbowing and shirt-pulling by Wombwell, I rose majestically to nod in the subsequent corner to make it 7-0 to Hoyland. I got 5. We eased up second half as we had exams in the morning and I got a well earned rest after 80 minutes as I'd done a 20 mile cross country the day before, which I won.
Best Player in Brazil last season At least for a good chunk of it. Gained him a recall to the Brazilian national team and there were serious discussions about him being actively involved in the 2014 Brazil World Cup squad.