Napoli sign Lavezzi....

anyone seen this guy play in real life... is awesome in footy manager 2007, and we all know that means he is obviously the same in real life!! right???

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=476119&CPID=21&clid=459&lid=8&title=Napoli+land+Lavezzi&channel=&

Shockingly -and not even the slightest bit tedious- they are comparing him to Maradona, which is unlike the media....

has anyone seen him play in real life? is he any good? im curious, not bi-curious, just curious.

We've been linked to him also, which basically means that he must be a very good talent (Werder scouts = great). Haven't seen him play myself, but he should be a good transfer for Napoli.

He is a forward / second striker type though, and therefore not the new Maradona (= the definition of the number 10).

the maradona comparisons are tedious whoever they are doing it to... every year there is a new one, aimar, d'allas, saviola, messi, aguero, etc etc.

is good to have napoli and their ultra crazy fans back in seria A, should make for some decent italian style mega fan violence which is always good tv!

Napoli are cult! I will never forget the Maradona days which I actually witnessed myself as a kid. One day, Messi has to join them and repeat history, probably the closest thing to Maradona these days.


Will never forget us beating Napoli 5-1 in 1989 at the Weserstadion, and 2:3 away (UEFA Cup second round, back then when the UEFA Cup actually had a lot of prestige), with Maradona playing for them.

blutgraetsche wrote:Napoli are cult! I will never forget the Maradona days which I actually witnessed myself as a kid. One day, Messi has to join them and repeat history, probably the closest thing to Maradona these days.


Will never forget us beating Napoli 5-1 in 1989 at the Weserstadion, and 2:3 away (UEFA Cup second round, back then when the UEFA Cup actually had a lot of prestige), with Maradona playing for them.

yeah messi is definitely the closest thing ive seen to diego... it is in the ability to dribble the ball at such pace, whilst it look as if it is glued to your foot. For me this is the hardest skill in all of football, as it can only be achieved by those blessed with immaculate technique, and probably a low center of gravity too. If Leo continues to progress at his current rate and doesn't get cut in half by some lumbering, retarded, defender then he has a chance to reach that level and amaze us all. I for one hope he makes it, but in this life nothing is certain.

Did you go to those matches in 1989? i would have been honoured to see diego play in the flesh... alas i am too young.

ih8gerrard wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Napoli are cult! I will never forget the Maradona days which I actually witnessed myself as a kid. One day, Messi has to join them and repeat history, probably the closest thing to Maradona these days.


Will never forget us beating Napoli 5-1 in 1989 at the Weserstadion, and 2:3 away (UEFA Cup second round, back then when the UEFA Cup actually had a lot of prestige), with Maradona playing for them.

yeah messi is definitely the closest thing ive seen to diego... it is in the ability to dribble the ball at such pace, whilst it look as if it is glued to your foot. For me this is the hardest skill in all of football, as it can only be achieved by those blessed with immaculate technique, and probably a low center of gravity too. If Leo continues to progress at his current rate and doesn't get cut in half by some lumbering, retarded, defender then he has a chance to reach that level and amaze us all. I for one hope he makes it, but in this life nothing is certain.

Did you go to those matches in 1989? i would have been honoured to see diego play in the flesh... alas i am too young.

Unfortunately that's starting to happen more and more. In the Copa America he always has 2 or 3 defenders on him, and they haven't been afraid to get physical.

kas wrote:

ih8gerrard wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Napoli are cult! I will never forget the Maradona days which I actually witnessed myself as a kid. One day, Messi has to join them and repeat history, probably the closest thing to Maradona these days.


Will never forget us beating Napoli 5-1 in 1989 at the Weserstadion, and 2:3 away (UEFA Cup second round, back then when the UEFA Cup actually had a lot of prestige), with Maradona playing for them.

yeah messi is definitely the closest thing ive seen to diego... it is in the ability to dribble the ball at such pace, whilst it look as if it is glued to your foot. For me this is the hardest skill in all of football, as it can only be achieved by those blessed with immaculate technique, and probably a low center of gravity too. If Leo continues to progress at his current rate and doesn't get cut in half by some lumbering, retarded, defender then he has a chance to reach that level and amaze us all. I for one hope he makes it, but in this life nothing is certain.

Did you go to those matches in 1989? i would have been honoured to see diego play in the flesh... alas i am too young.

Unfortunately that's starting to happen more and more. In the Copa America he always has 2 or 3 defenders on him, and they haven't been afraid to get physical.

indeed... goes with the territory I'm afraid. They know he is too slick to stop by fair means so they crunch him in the hope of breaking him, it is sad, but not exactly a new trick. Diego got kicked more than any player who has ever lived, yet still they couldn't stop him very often. was it a bilbao player who shattered diego's ankle?

I didn't go to the matches, no (I was a kid). But I remember us storming the city after winning the matches. Great days.

I watched Diego in the 1986 WC, and I loved him so much that I wasn't even sad seeing Germany lose against Argentina in the final. For me, he is the best player ever.

In that final, a young Matthäus completely neutralised him for all of the match except a single, but deceisive, brilliant pass to Buruchaga, who scored the winning goal. There can't be a greater compliment for a player IMHO, and this probably explains why Matthäus succeeded him as the world's best player later on.

in their look and dribbling style they look alike but after that it stops. messi is not a playmaker and imo doesnt have the vison to be. maradona knew when to pass the ball.messi hasnt had to learn this because he was soo good on the ball but he is to simple right now and will prob learn when he becomes a leader of his team.

Messi does not have the vision of Maradona, agreed, and he is no number 10 either (actually, Werder's Diego is very similar to Maradona, one of the very few "true" number 10s in the game these days). But his dribblings are on par, and he is faster even, that's why he reminds so many people of him.


There is only one Diego Armando Maradona.

Yeah, give Messi time. He just turned 20, and after that Getafe goal he loves to just run with the ball all the time right now.

Eventually I can see him becoming a central playmaker, just like Maradona.

blutgraetsche wrote:I didn't go to the matches, no (I was a kid). But I remember us storming the city after winning the matches. Great days.

I watched Diego in the 1986 WC, and I loved him so much that I wasn't even sad seeing Germany lose against Argentina in the final. For me, he is the best player ever.

In that final, a young Matthäus completely neutralised him for all of the match except a single, but deceisive, brilliant pass to Buruchaga, who scored the winning goal. There can't be a greater compliment for a player IMHO, and this probably explains why Matthäus succeeded him as the world's best player later on.

yeah same for me... my first memories of football are the 1986 1/4 finals ( i was 7) and even then i wasnt overly patriotic and simply couldnt understand why no one else in the room could see that the little bloke in blue was 100x as good as anyone else on the pitch and regardless of his cheating in that game, i still get shivers down my spine when i see the footballing perfection that was his second goal that day (the one in the semi against belgium wasnt bad either). As for the final im pretty sure that 2 men followed him everywhere at all times and as you say one of those was lothar who was an amazing player too.
But for me the thing that sets diego apart from all others is that he was the finest player the world has ever seen, whilst being a coke head... that beggers belief, i can hardly walk, let alone play football, if i have partaken in some of the bolivian marching powder the night before. He could not only play football but still do it to a standard that no one else has been able to match... what would he have been like if he wasn't a coke head??

blutgraetsche wrote:Messi does not have the vision of Maradona, agreed, and he is no number 10 either (actually, Werder's Diego is very similar to Maradona, one of the very few "true" number 10s in the game these days). But his dribblings are on par, and he is faster even, that's why he reminds so many people of him.


There is only one Diego Armando Maradona.

i was about to mention diego as someone more close to maradona. its the hype that the argentines love that has pushed this hole maradona=messi. i think messi is more of a second striker though we will see whether or not messi can play the playmaker role when riquelme retires from the national team since basile wanted to play messi there before riquelme came back. i remain sceptical but he hasnt gotten the chance yet.

Haha....great point. Somehow, the Maradona story is actually a tragic one, despite his tremendous success during his career. He wasted his unique talent to a certain extent, he could have done even better, no matter how unbelievable that may sound (can you really do better than basically win the WC on your own?).

Maradona = one of a kind. There are and will be great players in future, but no Maradona.

blutgraetsche wrote:Haha....great point. Somehow, the Maradona story is actually a tragic one, despite his tremendous success during his career. He wasted his unique talent to a certain extent, he could have done even better, no matter how unbelievable that may sound (can you really do better than basically win the WC on your own?).

Maradona = one of a kind. There are and will be great players in future, but no Maradona.

i agree, and with supermadrid too. Messi does need to work on his vision and passing but as kas said he is just 20... not seen enough of diego to really comment but -no offence bluey- but surely if he was that good he would be playing for a big team by now??

supermadrid wrote:
i was about to mention diego as someone more close to maradona. its the hype that the argentines love that has pushed this hole maradona=messi. i think messi is more of a second striker though we will see whether or not messi can play the playmaker role when riquelme retires from the national team since basile wanted to play messi there before riquelme came back. i remain sceptical but he hasnt gotten the chance yet.

kas actually has a point when he says that Messi is very young still, and can still learn a lot, e.g. improve his passing / vision in a playmaker role. However, Maradona already had a great vision at a very young age, he was more than an amazing dribbler.

Valdano, who played with Maradona in the 1986 WC winning team, believes Diego (the Werder one) to be a player of unbelievable vision btw.

ih8gerrard wrote:
i agree, and with supermadrid too. Messi does need to work on his vision and passing but as kas said he is just 20... not seen enough of diego to really comment but -no offence bluey- but surely if he was that good he would be playing for a big team by now??

Pffft. We are a big team!

Real are actually interested in him for a while, but we won't sell him now, no matter what. Just you wait and see, he has WPOTY potential.


Check out YouTube for umpteen videos about him, or check out my sig for an amazing goal.

ih8gerrard wrote:indeed... goes with the territory I'm afraid. They know he is too slick to stop by fair means so they crunch him in the hope of breaking him, it is sad, but not exactly a new trick. Diego got kicked more than any player who has ever lived, yet still they couldn't stop him very often. was it a bilbao player who shattered diego's ankle?

Andoni Goikoetxea - The Butcher of Bilbao. He keeps those same boots in his trophy cabinet.

nice goal....
right im off to try my best diego (either of them) impressions in 5aside which usually involves lots of me falling over after treading on the ball and landing on my face. Did maradona ever perfect the step-over to ungaimley face plant? maybe if i get coked up first i will play better.............hmmmm or perhaps ill just vomit.

ih8gerrard wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:Haha....great point. Somehow, the Maradona story is actually a tragic one, despite his tremendous success during his career. He wasted his unique talent to a certain extent, he could have done even better, no matter how unbelievable that may sound (can you really do better than basically win the WC on your own?).

Maradona = one of a kind. There are and will be great players in future, but no Maradona.

i agree, and with supermadrid too. Messi does need to work on his vision and passing but as kas said he is just 20... not seen enough of diego to really comment but -no offence bluey- but surely if he was that good he would be playing for a big team by now??

trust me diego has as much potential as the best. diego dominated in santos i remember at 17. back then him robinho were the biggest and while robinho got all the hype diego seemed better imo. he will surely be one of the best in the world when he gets the chance at a top club. and he has already started to add more goals to his name at bremen so i cant see what he can do better except for getting more experince.

I remmeber a game just a lil before that, Napoli vs Juventus, where Maradona was given the task to neutralise Platini... its almost like passing the baston, eh?

blutgraetsche wrote:

In that final, a young Matthäus completely neutralised him for all of the match except a single, but deceisive, brilliant pass to Buruchaga, who scored the winning goal. There can't be a greater compliment for a player IMHO, and this probably explains why Matthäus succeeded him as the world's best player later on.

Looks like it.

Another similarity - Napoli bought Maradona from Barcelona

blutgraetsche wrote:Napoli are cult! I will never forget the Maradona days which I actually witnessed myself as a kid. One day, Messi has to join them and repeat history, probably the closest thing to Maradona these days.


Will never forget us beating Napoli 5-1 in 1989 at the Weserstadion, and 2:3 away (UEFA Cup second round, back then when the UEFA Cup actually had a lot of prestige), with Maradona playing for them.